Jolly Jumper!

This babe loves the jolly jumper. I'll have to get some video of her in it. Absolutely giddy.

How do you use a soother?

I found some of the soothers I tried for Eden when she was little and Raine had to play with them. She didn't quite get the idea of how they worked, first held it like a farmer holds wheat in his mouth then she started using it like a phone. Oh how I have wished both her and Eden would have taken a soother but now looking at her I'm glad she didn't. What a crazy woman!

Tomato continued.

Eden did a great job patiently waiting.

All crushed up.

My helper had to unhygienically have a taste while Eden salivates in the background.

Tomato lacto fermentation. Hope it works!

My tomato harvest. A whole bunch of rock hard green tomatoes. I researched how to ripen them and decided on putting them in a box and cover them in newspaper. And as luck would have it Chris happened to buy new hockey skates so I had two large shallow boxes to use. the rest I left in plastic bags. I stashed my bounty in my room mainly because there was no place else to put it. I was pleasantly surprised that they began ripening and we could enjoy some garden tomatoes.

But I am now sick of having tomato this and tomato that. So when talking to Erin today she read a recipe from a book and suggested Lacto fermentation. Mmmmm, sounds easy and super healthy so I decided to give it a try. I hauled out the crock from the garage and as I'm doing this I think of how much work our grand & great grand parents had to do. That thing is heavy. No wonder so many of those old crocks have cracks.

Next came the challenge of cleaning it. As you can see I can't get my faucet in it so I fill it manually with a jar and add some dish soap and vinegar. It was quite awkward to maneuver.

Eden all dressed up.

An attempt to get some pictures of our sweetie.

First day of school 2010

I can't believe I have a Grade 3'er and a Grade 1'er. They both are really enjoying school so far and I must admit, so am I.

Splat the Cat - well kitty still.

His favorite spot, right beside nursing baby or baby snuggling with mom. And Eden grabs hold of him and is so excited. He seems to enjoy the abuse.

We got a new member in our family. Mr.Splat the cat and yes I said Mr. another boy to make a dent in the estrogen. He has fallen in the tub 3 times, each time Livia had to save him from drownding (her words). And Raine just can't keep out of the litter box. First she had a nice layer spread all around the back door and into the kitchen (with a piece of poop in the laundry basket & his food & water bowl filled with litter). Next day just around the litter box. And now today I set her up to soak her cut finger in salt water, went to the bathroom, came out and she's sitting there indian style in the litter box! What a kid!

Holiday's 2010

Eden's first food - a peach! Very out of characteristic from me but Chris said she couldn't stop staring so he wanted to give it to her. And she really liked it.

Livia & Valen. They had a great time together.

Raine's absolute favorite! Enough so that when the other kids were on it she was getting very mad and jealous.

Gramma & Gramps with the grandkids on the bench Grampa & his buddy built. Its a beautiful spot with a great view of the creek. The kids thought it was great there (so did I, I just had to put my feet in) and shoes and clothes were coming off - I think Atti was completely naked - except Kaiya. She wouldn't want to do such a thing!

Stompin' the clay for the cob oven. Such a great thing!

The trip out to Winlaw.

On our way out we stayed in Calgary and went to the zoo. Eden cried a lot on the drive from Calgary to Winlaw :( but all in all it went pretty good.

Eek! Water! Save me Daddy!

Splash Park.

We headed to the Morinville Farmers market & the the splash park today. We bought some smoked salmon, garden carrots (cause I just don't have enough), handmade greek flavored perogy, and a hutterite saskatoon pie. Yummy!!! The girls had a blast at the splash park, though Raine was not fond of being sprayed and spent most of her time on the sidelines prancing away whenever water came remotely near her. Can't wait for her to have a dip in BC waters.

Workin on toofer numero two.

Eden's 2nd tooth is almost through now. She's sucking on her lip, chewing, drooling and irritable. The homeopathic stuff works for the days leading to the tooth breaking through but now that her gums are so swollen and the tooth is bursting through she is on Tylenol. Don't like doing it but it makes her so much happier. And I am much happier when she is.

One lucky guy!

Here we are with our buddies the Morkins. When we are together it's like we have 4 sets of twins (though Liv & Terrence are almost a year apart but the best of buddies). Its a full house of girls with one lucky little man. I think he tolerates them quite well :)

Who dat???

Here is Eden with her stunt double. On many occasions all of us (including Grampa Danny) have caught this baby out of the corner of our eye and thought it was Eden. Usually it's face down laying by a piece of furniture so it looks like we are being very negligent. At least when it's in the exersaucer it looks like it's being taken care of to some degree. But their coloring in much different (Eden looks like a freaky ghost) and Eden would be objecting very much to being left alone on her stomach!

And the look in Eden's eyes on this one says "you just wait til I'm upright and have perfected my pincer grasp, I will take you down!"
And Raine just finished her famous line, which she shrieks with incredible excitement "She touching me!!!!"

So excited!

House garden.

This is for you Erin. Here is the garden in front of the house. I tried to plant a bit more sparingly but everything here just goes crazy. My two tomato plants have burst through their cages and the chard and beets are doing very well. The zucchini is in a power struggle with the baby's breath but I'm trying to help it out by pushing the bb away. Good eating.

My helper.

We had Eden's 4 month check-up yesterday. Kaiya really is my big helper when it comes to taking care of the other girls. Kaiya watches Eden while I get ready and can now put Raine in the van for me when we are leaving. I took all 4 kids with me which went well. Eden peed all over the weigh scale (14lbs 4 oz, 25inches) but didn't cry too much while she was naked. Then I took all the girls grocery shopping where my only problem child was Raine. Oh well, it's getting better and better.

I love my mama & my mama loves me!

A bit of a long one of Eden. I also can't stand hearing myself in the video (don't we all feel that way?) but I'm sure when I'm old and look back at this I'll be glad it's a whole minute!

Bocce Ball!

I asked them to pose for this one - wow what a close one!

Sleeping baby, all cuddled up.

We finally got out for our first bocce ball game of the season. It's so great the girls are getting old enough to play now too, not just throw the pea. Raine missed her nap today so she was in a foul mood and spent a lot of her time screaming and crying. Near the end we finally coaxed her over to be our pea thrower. And my sweet little baby napped in the stroller, being pushed around to every spot with us. The girls were pumped to play and I'm looking forward to many more games with them :)

Street Performers Festival '10

Sword swallower/balloon swallower

Miss Eden taking in all the sights and sounds.

Ping Pong magician.

We took in the Street Performers festival for the first time ever! Auntie Calyn came with us which was a huge help as the girls love hanging with her and the more hands the better. We started with the sword swallower which was pretty amazing. Then he took a long, skinny balloon and swallowed the whole thing! And it didn't come back up! He said for a price you could watch it come out the other end - gross! We also saw a magician whose expertise seemed to be tricks with ping pongs. He was really good too and I enjoyed his humor.

We checked out some shops and had a snack - yummy elephant ears and then bubble tea.

I think it will get better every year as the girls get older and we can stay for more of the shows. This is going to be a must for us every year!

Hurdles!

Another video. Our little track star Livia doing the hurdles!

Haircut!

After a bit of a grumpy morning, both the girls and me, I was done with looking at Livi's lion's mane head of hair. So I proclaimed `We are going to cut your hair off!`because I am the boss! Haha! So I worked through 45 minutes of knots, the hair we gather we call her little friend. I`m tempted to put google eyes on these hair balls I get out of the girls hair but I suppose that would be a little nasty. Then I began to cut it off. Of course Eden started crying like crazy half way through but there is no stopping a hair cut mid way. Now it is done and it looks much better. A little crooked in spots but not too bad. She looks awfully cute.

Me First!

Raine was not happy about Grampa being served his birthday cake first. I didn't catch the best part but she was really yelling and mad at him. Ahhh, a two year old!

Grampa's 56th Birthday Party!!!

I have finally been able to get my videos up so thought I'd better throw in Grampa Jerry's 56th Birthday party. We had burgers and Gramma made some really delicious side dishes (my fav was the mashed carrot one) and a wonderful chocolate cake with a chocolate mousse.

Raspberries!

Eden is loving blowing her little raspberries. She's getting more drooly so they are getting to be quite large & wet. Pretty darn cute.

Fireworks!!!

We went to the fireworks for Canada Day in St.Albert once again. We met the Morkin & Lutgen families who saved us front row seats. We are usually a little further back which is great but it was nice to be so close. The kids loved it, but Livi snuggled into me and said they still make her a little scared. A much improved reaction than how she used to be. Raine loved it and Edie cried. Kaiya went around and took these pictures, hence the face Chris is giving.