A long weekend in May

I don't know about you, but I love me some long weekends.  This most recent one was exceptional in it's awesomeness.  The weather was perfect, the company was great, the attitude amongst our children was that of friendly, togetherness, and dining al fresco was involved...it was hotdogs, but eaten outside during that time of year before all those wretched bugs make their way into our lives, made it taste like a gourmet meal.  It helped that my contribution to said meal, was simply putting the buns and chips on the table.  Awesome.

A time to sit back, love on our friends and family, enjoy our children and simply BE.  No schedule (although I have to HAVE A PLAN ) but it can be loosely followed and I'm happy.  Henry knows nothing makes me happier than when he brings me tea in bed on a Saturday morning, which already is AWESOME in itself, and says the words "Babe, I've got a plan".  I just sit, grin stupidly and listen because I love plans that much.  Points if it includes making a list (because who doesn't enjoy making lists?!?!?!) and double points if it includes shopping.  Anyways....back to the long weekend.

Here's a little of what our weekend was like:

I've said it before.....we love the beach :)

Chilly!

This guy was in the water for almost 1/2 hour.

When you are the respective owner of a 14 year old, they will sometimes act like this.

The beach calls for some Doritos.

 

 

 

You must always attempt to "one up" your siblings when drawing in the sand.  This is best achieved by using A LOG.

To say that our girls love their Dad, would be an understatement.  

 

 

 

 

The beloved dock.

 

The fish were really biting.  I think we were there for 1 1/2 hours and caught at least 30.  We love fishing and it's even more fun when the fish are hungry :)

 

It's funny.  Reeve is generally a high energy, going 100 miles an hour kind of girl.  But, she can sit still for so long when fishing.  She's got great patience when reeling in etc...she's very good!

 

Her patience paid off!

 

I have no idea how this guy got to be so big.  Ridiculous.

 

We pretty much had the dock to ourselves.

After fishing, we went to visit Mom Noordam's grave.  Her stone is there now and it's so nice to see that instead of just the dirt.  What was anticipated as being a quiet, perhaps sad visit (the kids' first time there since her funeral in February) was actually a wonderful time of talking about where Oma is and why.  After cleaning up Oma's grave, we spent about 45 minutes trekking around, finding the stones of other loved ones and had a wonderful time reminiscing about each of them.

 

Campfire...always. awesome.

Monday was HOT.  The kids always enjoy the sprinkler under the trampoline.  

 

So in a nutshell, that was our May long weekend.  Come on July 1st!!

My place

I have a place.  A place that's been near to my heart for as long as I can remember.  I love it there.  I would live there if I could.  Maybe I will someday. It would be a dream come true!

It's the beach and its waters.  Any beach...doesn't have to be turquoise water or white sand.  The dirty sands on the beaches of Lake Erie are good.  Very good.

I love it when it's calm and serene.  I love it when waves pound the shore and you can hardly hear one speak.  I love it in the summer.  I love it in the winter.  I love it in sunshine and in drizzle.  I love watching a storm move over it.  I respect it's power.

And when I sit and watch it move, I love knowing that when he created the majestic waters, my Creator knew I would love it so.

He knew it would become my place.  I love that.

Desk Dilemma

You know that feeling when you just have to have exactly what you want?  Nothing else will do.  No matter how much you try to convince yourself that you'll be just as happy with other arrangements, you know you will just pine for what your heart truly wants.  Such was the case with my desktop.

I wanted a butcher block counter for my new desk area.  I had this vision of a long, sleek wood top.  Space for two people (mostly the *ahem* hard working, diligent students that live my house) to work at.  A place to store the never ending amount of stuff that comes with a family of 6.

Enter butcher block counter top prices.  My vision came to a screeching halt.  It's not cheap.  Sure, we could maybe build something for cheaper but I wanted what I wanted.  My vision needed to be realized.  My very life depended on it.  Ok, well maybe not but still....I had to have it.  So, I said to myself ( I do talk to myself on a very regular basis...come on, we ALL do.  Own it people. ) "Self, how are you going to get your hands on this desk top"?  I rolled ideas over in my mind for a while and then I thought ~ GARAGE SALE.

Even though we had regularly been bringing van loads to the local Goodwill store during our reno, I knew we still had enough stuff laying around to make a decent yard sale (because let's face it, no one wants to earn the dreaded "drive by garage sale" status) and I was willing to rip toys out of the hands of my children and the clothes off their backs to make it decent.  Kidding.  Or am I?  Muahahahaha.
So, Friday I sent my two oldest kids on foot to the Dollarama for some stickers and we went to town.  We despise clutter and so, even if we didn't make much, it sure felt good to know that so much stuff was going to be leaving our house and would not be finding its way back in.

Saturday dawned gray and dingy but we weren't going to be deterred.  I was on a mission and so out we went @ 6:15am to set up.  Being that we are on a main road, we didn't feel the need to advertise more than just the simple sign my husband *creatively* drew and placed in front of our house.  Wasn't long before the people came.  The kids had a blast, with $ signs rolling in their eyes.  Every time a stuffy or dinky car was picked up, I could see them figuring how many swedish berries they could buy with their new found wealth.  At the end of the day our tally was, drumroll please.......$285.  NICE.

Because I'm impatient and was virtually salivating at the idea of going to get my (our) desk top, I batted my eyelashes at my husband and politely asked if we could go to Ikea RIGHT NOW.  He said sure. My Henry?  He's sweet like that :)  Turns out this style of butcher block was being discontinued so the price was reduced by $50, which worked out well because I had to pick up a few more Ribba frames and a sweet little yellow bucket as well.  Oh, and a couple plants.  And 3 baskets.  Sheesh. 

Here she is.  This is her backside ~ how embarrassing.  Yes, she's a she.  I might even name her. 

I simply can.not. wait to install this beauty and start enjoying a great desk space! 

From this....

 
 ....to this.  Much better :)

Anybody else working outside this long weekend?  It was a beauty!!

Birthday Girl

May 17, 2007 was an emotional sort of day.  It was the birthday of our 4th child....a girl.  Her name is Reeve Antonia (Antonia being a family name shared with her grandma, great grandma etc...which is extra special because it's the name of Henry's biological mom, someone who never though she would know her son and especially his children.)  The birth of every child is usually met with excitement and the wonder that is new life.  Reeve's was no different, except that perhaps these feelings were amplified.  You see, Reeve wasn't expected to live.

I have had 4 miscarriages.  3 of these happened directly after Logan was born (our 3rd child) and before Reeve.  2 of these miscarriages were traumatic, including ambulance rides and ER visits.  My first loss was at 7 weeks, and the other 2 at 13 and 14 weeks.  After our 3rd loss, we opted for a D&C because of how difficult it had been the first two times.  After an emotionally and physically draining 2 years Henry and I thought that perhaps our family was complete and had put having another child out of our minds.  You guessed it....I was pregnant shortly after. I called my wonderful midwife Nikki and she scheduled me an appointment once again to see Dr. Power at the Early Pregnancy Assessment Center at University hospital.  Ultrasounds were done every week as well as blood work every 3 days.  Things didn't look very good.  My HCG levels weren't doubling like they should be.  Ultrasounds didn't look right either.  There was lots of concern and we were told to expect the worst and perhaps, said Dr. Power "you might want to start thinking about your options".  There was only one option we told him.  We pray and we wait.  We prayed so hard that God would let us hold this child.  We made it to our 20 week ultrasound.  We went to that appointment cautiously.  We were told there were problems with the child's kidneys and several other issues.

Fast forward 4 months....7 days overdue.  Anxious and excited.  Induced at 5pm for stress test complication reasons and after a *yucky* labor (Riley and Logan's births were amazing....natural and "easy") at 7:56pm, a round (9lbs 6 oz!), chubby, pink and fiesty baby girl was born.  We marveled at God's grace.

                                                      Grandma Nettie with her namesake.

                                                        

                                                 

                                            

 

She has been a joy.  She has livened up our home with her adventurous, feisty ways.  She adores her Dad (who I think is pretty great myself), she loves cheese and meat but won't eat her vegetables.  She is curious about God and the world he has created.  She is loved deeply, by many.  And we think, that for a child that we were told would most likely die before 12 weeks gestation, she looks pretty healthy :) 

Praising God for 6 wonderful, healthy fun years.  Praying for MANY more.