When friends come to visit

    Last weekend we had the privilege of having Canaan's birth siblings and birth mom over for dinner. This was the first time in a year we had seen them, after they had lived with us for a year while their mom and dad worked things out in their lives.
    I waited until the last minute to tell the kids they were coming because I didn't want them to be disappointed and when I told them, you would have thought someone famous was coming to visit. They kept saying, "I can't wait any longer! When will they be here?"
    My oldest said it perfectly when she stated, "Time flies but love stays." Our experience with these kiddos and their Mama have set us on a course that we can not change as we plunge forward with foster care placements. We understand that to love kids, we need to choose to love their parents too. It's so important for the kids even while it seems scary to us foster parents/adoptive parents. I would encourage you to change your perspective about the biological parents. Love them. Right where they are at. Love them. Encourage them to be better people. Teach them. Give them HOPE. As you walk along side their kids and love them, walk alongside the bio parents too. I promise you that you will not regret it, if your heart is in the right place.
   Saying all that, you need to know that it has taken me a LONG time to see this perspective. A. Long. Time. I made so many mistakes. I chose poorly with my words many times.  I didn't see them as Christ sees them. I'm ashamed of that. It's not who I want to be and not who Christ called me to be.
   So, our relationship with our new placements biological parents has just begun. Its awkward but simple. They obviously love their children. They have begun to go to church with us on Sunday mornings. It's so awesome and crazy. The kiddos are slated to return to them and it leaves us with the question of what kind if relationship will continue. With the kids in the picture above, it was easy as they are Canaan's birth moms kids. We have a very open adoption with her so we knew that even though they left to a poor situation with their birth father, we would see them again. With these kids, it has to be more intentional and specific. If you have any advice of how to go from here, please say so! We are considering inviting them for Christmas and possibly Thanksgiving too. That's a lot! However, when the kids see that we have a relationship with their parents, it sets them at ease a bit.
    Adding so many "extras" to your family makes things pretty crazy but the blessings are pretty crazy too!

Unexpected

Our family just returned from an amazing 12 day road trip across Nevada, Utah, Colorado and Arizona. We spent a week in Vail, Co with my parents and then drove the long way around to get home. Our tourist stops were the Garden of the gods, Mesa Verde, the Grand Canyon and Zion. Along the way we drove along highway 550 and, if you ever get the chance, you must go! It was such a beautiful drive.
The day after we left we received a phone call from our counties placement social worker about three siblings that needed a home. We had not planned on taking three but because they were a little older we said yes and waited to hear if the placement would go through. There was some back and forth trying to find a home in another county that was closer to the parents work but, after a week of trying, no other home was found that would take all three. The whirlwind began with tons of phone calls and information passed back and forth and yesterday, we drove home with three new members of our family for the next few months.
We had the perfect reintroduction into the system too. The time we were given to meet at the office was 2 but we were told to get there early to interact with the kids in between interviews. We arrived at 1:07 and found that none of the workers or the children were even in the office! So, we left to run some errands and then sat in a restaurant waiting for a phone call. It was actually a nice little date.
At about 3 we were told the kids had arrived and we could come any time so we headed out. When we got to the office the placement worker was waiting in the waiting area for us with Peanut anxiously looking for a very tall man, hahaha! She bounded up to me, gave me a high five and turned and rushed back to the visit room to announce us to her sister, Princess. Princess was not as excited and actually wouldn't even look at us but continued to make her "soup". I got down on the floor and tried to engage her but she wasn't having any of it. Soon after, Little Man came in from his interview and was all smiles, high fives and talking. He and Jonah hit it off right away and started playing games. The girls were taken back for their interviews and we played and laughed with Little Man. This was supposed to be more difficult, right?
Two social workers sat with us and we signed paper after paper after paper after paper. Then, just as the whirlwind started, it was over, the kids were strapped into the car and we were driving away. No tears, no crying, no questions. Just happy faces and sweet demeanor's. This went SO different than when we had placements 14 years ago. Jonah commented that after all the craziness, what were we supposed to do now? It all seemed so anticlimactic. So, we danced to "Happy" and listened to "Let it Go" over and over and over again until we got home.
At home we walked the kids around the house, introduced them to our other kids and showed them where things were. Princess hid behind my back and held my hand the whole time but, by dinner time, she was talking and interacting a little more. She and Peanut played dollies with Alana on the floor in the kitchen. None of the kids ate very much dinner at all but gobbled down their salad. After my voracious eaters, its shocking how little some kids eat. I'm sure there's some trauma stuff going on with that too, though.
Bed time was the hardest part of the whole afternoon and, really, it wasn't even bad. No tears or upset. The kids stayed in their beds, they just wouldn't stop playing. Little Man and Canaan wouldn't stop talking until well after 9:30!
Jonah and I know that this honeymoon period won't last forever but, for now, we are in awe of how easy things are going and how well the kids have melded into the house. We will see what the future brings.

Foster care, shmoster care

      To say Jonah and I were pleased when we were told we could become foster parents is an understatement; we were beyond ecstatic. Yup, we're strange. Our future life's plan included fostering children after retirement and I've often told people that we don't plan on having an empty nest for many, many years until our health fails and we are too old. Foster care is our calling. It is a part of who we are as a couple. It's the reason we added on to our house. Being told we could begin 4 years shy of when we had planned(when Isaiah turns 18) was exciting. When the resource family approval social worker(the new term for foster parents is resource family) called to tell me that we couldn't foster because of our family size, we were crushed. Like, seriously and honestly crushed. We had spent hours upon hours in classes and gathering paperwork and spent lots of money on fingerprints, cribs and guns safes to make our home ready because we had initially been told by a social worker that the law had changed and that the supervisor had given the ok. The RFA worker told us no and she was not sure why we were told that. So, I rallied myself, asked her to please contact the state liaison to get things cleared up for sure because I believed the written directives gave clear ways we could be certified and then Jonah and I(and some family and friends) fell to our knees in prayer.
     We know that our fight is not against the RFA workers(cause they REALLY need foster families!). This is spiritual and we were not going to give up without fighting in prayer about this! We were called 2 hours later with the answer. Apparently, we CAN become a certified resource family but can only be placed with sibling sets since they are difficult to place. Cause, ya know, we have "too" many kids to foster just one child at a time but a whole sibling set(the number is irrelevant to them) is just fine. How THAT makes sense is not a concern to me, obviously, but its just a bit comical.
    Our whole home study is ready to go, paperwork done and filled and cribs set up and "placement ready". We await the last step; a social worker to do family interviews to determine whether we are capable to care for more children and determine how many more. This is the last determining factor of whether or not we will be certified. We could end up with a social worker that is encouraging and OK with the fact that we have 6 kids under 18 or we could be connected with one who thinks large families(especially home schooled ones) are weird and hiding something horrible and detrimental. If you care to pray with us for this last step, we would LOVE it and so would the kids who we are looking forward to caring for and loving;) May God get all the glory.
   

A new era is before us

     On January 8, a snarky comment I made on a Facebook post resulted in a social worker calling me that afternoon. As I was saying hello and wondering why a CPS social worker from our county was calling me, my phone alerted me to a text with a friend telling me she had been talking with her social worker about our family and the comment I had made and would be calling me soon. Here I was, with her on the other end of the line, asking me if our family would be interested in taking in a 14 year old girl as a foster placement. I was stunned and confused. You see, in our state, it has been understood that in order to foster kids, we couldn't have so many of our own. Sure, we have plenty of room to house more kids but anyone with more than 6 children couldn't possibly be desiring to foster for anything but the money (huge eye roll here).
     Jonah and I have looked forward to the day when Isaiah turns 18 (technical "adult") so that we could become foster parents once again. It's a calling God laid on our hearts 15 years ago and we knew the time would come for the thumbs up. It seems now is that time and so we have taken the classes(cram courses!), gathered all the paperwork, done the health physicals and TB tests and we wait. We wait for a call from the man who will check our home and say that it's satisfactory and safe. We wait to meet with a worker who will ask us, and our children, way to many personal questions as she/he determines whether we would be acceptable foster parents for children. We wait to have that notification that we are finalized and approved to be foster parents in our county and, of course, we wait for that first call. And the second. And the twentieth.
     We initially said yes to that young girl but that has not panned out. It DID, however, set us on a course for what we've been called to do and has opened doors for us that we believed to be slammed shut. We are both a little stunned at how this has all happened in the past few weeks and changed the trajectory of the next few years we thought were all 'situated'. As we move forward I will be sharing some thoughts and posts about fostering, our children's part in all this and preparing yourself to bring a trauma child home. It's scary and worrisome and a whole lot of work. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

Worst mom ever award

    Every year, as the holidays end, Jonah and I end up finding ourselves in a money crunch as January moves along. Many of our car bills, insurance and other once a year things need to be paid and the squeeze is on.
    I had the absolutely brilliant idea to spread the buying of gifts out over the months preceding Christmas so that our funds were a little more available after December was over. I made my lists and crossed things off. I even wrapped ALL the gifts before December started! I was on a roll! Until Christmas Eve came around and I was organizing the gifts to place them under the tree. This is when I discovered that I had completely forgotten to buy a gift for one son. Like, nothing to open on Christmas day.
    To say I was disturbed is an understatement. I was absolutely horrified that I had actually overlooked a gift for my precious boy. It all worked out in the end but this will go down as one of my major parenting fails. What do you consider your major parenting fail?

A year is over

   A year is a long time to house children that are not yours. We loved, parented, disciplined, held and comforted children that weren't ours for over a year. A year, 2 months and 21 days, to be exact. After a holiday visit that CPS required, the children were held by their father and there is nothing anyone can do about it. They will not be returned.

  I find myself in mixed emotion daily. Having 3 less children makes for a MUCH quieter house and peace to allow me to get tons of projects done, homeschool my children and spend quality time with each. If I'm honest, it's been very pleasurable, almost to the point of guilt. On the other hand, we had just begun telling people we had 10 kids when they asked (after a year, it seemed silly that we only said 7), we were just beginning to get into the groove (truly) of having 3 extra little ones, we bought a new car to seat us all. Things were getting "easier" and more fun and the kids were beginning to really take to heart that the "visiting" kids weren't leaving anytime soon. We knew they would never become Winger's but that was OK. We loved them, they loved us. We wanted them returned to a safe home once their mom was able and CPS said they could return.

   Today I found myself telling one of the kids to make sure to throw something away because, "I don't want it on the floor where A can put it in his mouth." That child reminded me the baby was gone now. I spent this weekend cleaning and organizing the crib, pack and play, stroller, high chairs, baby gate play area, toys, clothes and shoes and getting them ready to be packed away, given back or donated. My house is clean and organized and it's wonderful but, they are not here. That's hard. And painful. And sad. I pray multiple times a day that they are safe and fed and loved and hugged and heard. This is the hardest part. I know they are not. This is what hurts the most. Not the missing them or wanting their sweet smiles or cuddles. It's the not knowing. The wanting-to-protect-them-but-you-can't and praying CPS will do their job and  keep them safe. I just need to know they're safe.

***we were not foster parents and in the system. This was an odd gray area that we were working to figure out.

An even dozen

     When Jonah and I met he told me he wanted 11 kids. I was hooked. Even though God has only seen fit to bless us with 7 of our own we had the opportunity to have 11 kids in our care for 3 1/2 months. This, of course, happened just before we moved into our new 2,400 sq. ft. addition where the said children caused all sorts of  chaos and mayhem. Last week, we again have the privilege of caring for these kids, along with their 8 month old baby brother, and things are even crazier than before. This time, however, we went into it prepared. My schedule is strict, the older kids have NO right to discipline or reprimand and must come to me and I am letting NOTHING go. Our resident drama queens are held in very strict rules as to their words and conduct with the "non Winger" kids.
     It's a very difficult thing, parenting children who live SO differently than the way you do. They are allowed to stay up very late, despite their being only 6, 4, 3, 2 and 8 months. Here, they are in bed by 7, along with my 5 year old, and BOY do they throw a fit about it! They are always saying, "But, it's morning time!" I love when their mom puts them in their place and sides with me. Tonight, while having their phone chat, the 4 year old tells her mom, "Well, we are in bed even though it's still morning time but Faith always makes us go to bed when it' morning time." Her mom told her she was wrong and the look on her face was great. I was right! Her mom said so!

     When you choose to love children that are not yours and you know will return to their parents at some point, it becomes an amazing balance of trying not to tie your hearts with theirs but also knowing you must. I watch my children fall in love with the babies and my heart breaks knowing they will hurt when they leave. I know, however, how important it is for these children to feel loved and cared for wholeheartedly while they are here. They need to know they belong here and this is their home for however long they will be. I watch as my children's hearts get torn out saying goodbye and wonder if this is, truly, for the best. But then I remember, this is who WE are. This is what God called our FAMILY too and if they have the Winger name they are called to serve in this way. They need to learn how to love and let go and pray fervently for those kids when they think of them. They need to learn to love another outside of their family and serve these kids with all that they are. This is our mission field. It is hard. It is challenging at times but it is SUCH a blessing to US!

Second story

The second story is up and being built!

Front door, in the middle there. Left two windows are the school room and right two are the office.

SO fast!

This is looking into the school room. The front door is to the left on the screen.

The office.

This is looking back toward the front door. That beam will be the beginning of the stairway.

SO much happening each day! Right now, they have wall framing on the second floor being built. By the end of the week, they will almost be ready for trusses and roofing!

Off to the races

We returned this weekend from an amazing family trip to Rancho Mirage with my side of the family. My parents take us all on vacation each year to reconnect and enjoy family time. It was so much fun just laying by the pool, talking and watching the cousins bond. Canaan learned how to officially swim and we are now a swimming family after 12 years of always having someone in floaties.

 

 

 

While we were gone the footings to the add-on were dug and built up. It was pretty crazy to come home and see the change. Its almost unreal for me to believe its actually happening! Yesterday we were woken up at 7 am by trucks pulling in the driveway to put the finishing touches on things before the inspector came and, this morning, it was 6 AM! It's going to be a LONG 6-9 months of early mornings and it means I can't stay in my pajamas all day, BUT, it also means that we will have a big house around Christmas and I think I'm OK with the early mornings with that as a reward.

 

The cement trucks rolled in right as the sun was coming up on this gorgeous morning and the kids were eagerly standing by watching. Only Alana and Isaiah remember this from our last build and I think Justus could sit ALL day long watching and asking questions about everything. He soaks up the education like none of the other kids do. I love that he loves to learn.

 

 

Sarah was fortunate enough to spend this week with my parents so that she could attend her friends 16th birthday party down south. I love that she has the opportunity to be away(at the beach, no less) but we sure do miss her when she's gone! She finished her 10th grade year in February and started her 11th grade year a month ago so she deserves to have a little more time off.

 

We are so very busy around here with animals, 4H stuff with fair next week, building and trying to finish up school and prepare for next year. We won't be done with school anytime soon but there is always so much to do when it comes to the kids' education.

 

 

I will be posting on my blog at least once a week with building pictures and updates so check back if you want to see the house go up!

This boy will turn 5 this week. I can't even believe that statement.

 

Observations

As I am packing to leave this beautiful island of Hawaii that I've called home for a month, I am reflecting on some things that I've observed. A list in no particular order:

- I've never seen so many butt cheeks and butt cracks. Vulgar? I'm sorry. Locals seem to think that bikinis with as little as possible in the back are acceptable. Sadly, I think it's the same in California but I don't spend enough time on their beaches to have noticed. Ladies, there is beauty in leaving a small amount for your husbands eyes only. Tankinis are comfy AND cute!
- Tatoos are all the rage. If you meet a Hawaiian, they will likely have a tattoo. Not just a small one but across their back or down their arm or leg or across their chest. Women and men alike are tatted up.
- Hawaiians know how to relax and party like no other place I've seen. It seems all Hawaiians have a "weekend" setup. Pop-up, BBQ, ice chests, boom box, check, check, check. They use them too and have some real fun.
- I could move here and settle into life very, very easily.
- Our district of Puna is full of a bunch of seriously crazy Hippies who need Jesus so badly it hurts my heart. I can feel their oppression amongst their happy faces and (really) smelly bodies.
- Being together as a family of 9, 24/7, for 30 days has been surprisingly good and easy. We had some great conversation, great discipline opportunities and it was SO very nice to not be a single mom at all for 30 straight days. Refreshing having my man beside me to help.
- Having sunshine and vitamin D makes me a happy person!

Some thoughts after 2 days home in California
- It's so good to be home with all of the things I'm used to to take care of my large family.
- I miss Hawaii already.
- it's nice to hear my child that frequently says they 'don't want to be a part of our family' and 'hate this house' and 'wish they could just run away' say " It feels SO good to be HOME." Yes, I made it a point to let them know that was nice to hear after always hearing the negative!
- Jonah went immediately back to work and it's been hard missing him for me and the kids. Spending 30 straight days together was a delight for us all when we were used to him being gone often.
- Because we took off 5 weeks of school(1 to prepare and 4 to vaca) I realized we have a long way to go to finish this school year.
- getting back into the normal homeschool routine stinks!
- The morning we arrived home was the exact moment Justus started having asthma issues that have been gone for a month. Thank goodness for our essential oils, they were able to stop an attack right as it was beginning.

And, my goal for this week is to figure out how to be able to download pictures so I can post them here! I have so many to share!

See this cute little guy?

He's five years old and taught himself how to ride a 2 wheeler all by himself just like 3 of his older siblings did at the same age. I'm pretty proud of him and amazed at how brave he is becoming. I love my JuJu Bee a whole heck of a lot!

Bullet post

As you can tell from my lack of blogging, we have been busy. Like crazy busy stuff. It seems that things always come all at once and you are left with your head swimming.

- I have been trying to post a blog post but something was wrong with my internet in that it refused to let me publish a post and I had to change it so it would work. I'm glad I finally figured it out!

- Our garden is growing great. It's just taking a really long time since we had such a late start.

- Our car that fits our whole family broke down and we were left without it for 3 days. Even though we could have gotten a rental they don't rent cars for a family of 9 so it's pointless.

- When we got back from camping we discovered that a coupling had cracked from freezing this past winter and the boy's room was all wet by the door, along the wall was saturated and it completely buckled some of our wood floors. Talk about blah!

- We have a crew working on fixing all the damage done by the water this week and are grateful for home owner's!

- My kids are great and so much fun to hang out with.

- We are STILL waiting to be able to finalize Canaan's adoption. If you would pray about that, we would really appreciate it! It is getting beyond frustrating and we just want it to be done.

- We made a turn around trip to Southern California to go to my Papa's funeral. Lots of driving...

- Jonah is working on fencing... again. This time it's for something fun though but I'm gonna keep it a secret just because I can.

- My 11 year old turned TWELVE last week. I'm still trying to wrap my head around how that one happened.

-I have no plan on starting school right now. I haven't even bought curriculum yet, yikes! Other things have been taking my time and energy(and money).

- I fall in love more and more every day with my amazing man. I am one pretty blessed woman.

The craziness

I've come to realize that tent camping for a week with 7 young kids is not all it's cracked up to be. We haven't even left yet and I'm sitting here wondering what on earth I am doing. Our supply list is, literally, 5 pages long and that doesn't include all the clothes and bathroom items we need to pack. How in the world are we going to fit it all in anyways? Hahaha, this is going to be interesting.

One thing I've concluded? I'd really like to have one of those big buses like the Duggar's have to go camping in. Or, maybe just a trailer will do. Just having a refridgerator and a kitchen would be SO wonderful. Oh, and a toilet close by and without flies would be good too. And maybe a shower?

Honestly though, I'm looking forward to the quality time with my family and just relaxing without any of the "noise" from home. Too, living on the land and having really dirty kids at the end of each day has somewhat "toughened" me up. Two years ago and I would have been much worse about it all. Now, I'm kind of looking forward to it all. Kind of.

My Papa

You may remember last year when Canaan was just 1 1/2 months old, we went and visited my Papa who is very sick with cancer. You can see the pictures and read the post about it here.
Honestly, we all thought he was close to the end then. A. YEAR. AGO.

He has held his own and is still trucking. I took the kids down 2 weeks ago to see him again. We didn't stay for long because he gets tired very quickly and, well, I have 7 rambunctious kids who can only sit quiet and still for so long.




I am so glad to have these pictures and these memories. I just wish I lived closer so we could go and visit more often.

An unfortunate accident

Or was it?

We have a rope swing in our front yard that swings out above a decline to the gravel driveway. The kids LOVE playing on it and, so far, it has been an injury free play thing for the kids. Lately though, as the kids are getting stronger, they have been doing some crazy things on that thing. Yesterday, Isaiah was playing on it by pulling himself upside down during his "swing". He wasn't paying attention and smacked his head right into the tree. It bled bad and I thought he would need stitches but, thank God, he didn't.

Then today, I walk outside because Malakai is screaming bloody murder and I want to make sure he is OK. He is always hurting himself but never bad and he is an emotional little guy who seems to love to cry. This time was different. As I get a little closer I notice he is holding his mouth/chin and blood is pouring from his hand. I start to run. I know it's bad but all I can think is, Lord, please don't let us have to go to the hospital. I am so sick of going to the ER with kids(and paying the co-pay for it).





I strip off Kai's shirt and begin to look for the site of the bleeding when I notice there is no tooth where there was one just moments ago. I panic, praying that it wasn't an adult tooth and that his gum is not ripped open. I didn't look too well since I just wanted to get the bleeding to stop. I yell at Isaiah to find the tooth.

Isaiah walks up holding Kai's baby tooth in his hand and it reminds me of what my teeth looked like when I had them removed by the dentist when I was little. Definitely not ready to come out.

But then Malakai stops crying, the bleeding is stopped and all he wants to do is see what he looks like in the mirror. All that trauma and he is one happy boy. Go figure.





** Yes, we did call his dentist who said that as long as he's not in pain and there's no swelling he should be fine. We were worried about the root being left up in there but, because of his age, he thinks the root was already dissolved.

Patheticness

Yes, I know that's not a real word but I like it.

It seems to describe my exact feelings about the state of my computer these days.

You see, it seems that having 7 kids around a lap top, makes for a destructiveness of all things available to touch. Now, my computer is relatively "old" and it has been through the ringer quite a few times with viruses and breaking down but we have always been able to get it fixed.

Luckily, the problems with it are not internal any more(well except the battery not charging, but we'll get to that), just cosmetic and like to drive me crazy.

Let me show you what I mean.


I have a bad battery that refuses to stay charged at all. Sometimes, for no apparent reason, it will charge and I'll be able to unplug it and move it around without it turning off. The plug itself no longer has a great fit and slips out very easily, thus the packaging tape. I don't think the packaging tape helps all that much because, as I was typing this, the plug came out and my computer promptly turned off. Do I need to tell you that this happens at least 5 or 6 times each time I am on my laptop? It's usually one of the kids getting close to talk to me and, bam, off it
goes. Grrrr.



A few months ago my number 6 decided to pop off. It didn't just pop the button off, the whole plastic part over the sensor broke. I never realized just how much I used my "6" until it broke off.


I, foolishly, left my computer sitting on the side table next to the chair and Canaan pulled it down. It was just a tiny little crack. However, Alana was fighting with one of her siblings a week later(yes, my kids fight), fell backwards and pulled it down again. No, I did not learn my lesson the first time that Canaan did it. I think maybe I was just over the whole keeping-the-computer-safe-and-nice-since-it's-falling-apart thing.


And then, there's this. I really have no idea how this happened to begin with, but it just keeps getting worse. You see, the screw fell out about a year ago and wouldn't go back in, no matter how hard I tried. So, I just left it out. Then, one day I closed my computer before going to bed and the whole "swivel" thingy crushed and snapped and bent like crazy. It no longer holds the screen up and if I don't have the screen sitting just right it falls all the way back.


This is what it looks like from the side. If you look really close you can see the screen is a little crooked in there. I am just waiting for it to fall "down" and be unusable.



Sometimes, this happens. I am not comforted by the fact that I can see wires and things. You can see it's resting on the place where the screw should be able to screw in to. It doesn't


This is the most precarious of all of it's "positions". I am sure that, when it's like this, it is not very good for the other side that has to hold all of it up and gets tweeked.


This is what the screen looks like when it's "out of place" like that.

Isn't it nice? I think so too.

My baby

This sweet little baby is not so little anymore. He is coming up on TEN months old and weighs in at just under 21 lbs. His big brother, Justus, only weighs 9 more pounds than he does. I love chubby babies:)

Canaan is now crawling on all 4's and is starting to go pretty fast. He loves to chase the kids around the kitchen and will laugh and squeal trying to get them. Right now, he is trying SO hard to stand up on anything he can. Yesterday, he successfully pulled himself up on a kitchen stool and then promptly fell over.

Because of this beautiful weather we are having(which is supposed to end tonight in snow) Canaan got his first taste of playing in the dirt. He didn't like it too much and would try to start crawling but then push back on his bottom to sit when his hands touched the ground. For a minute, he would whine and look at me and then try again. He finally just conceded to sit in the dirt and play with leaves and sticks and had a lot of fun with that.

Breastfeeding is still going strong, although Canaan gets most of his nutrition from table food(avocados are his favorite), he really loves nursing. I am so glad that he has no showing of wanting to wean any time soon.

Canaan says Dada for everything right now but he does know that Jonah is Dada. When Jonah walks in the room he will get a big smile on his face and say "Dada". When I tell him, "Canaan, say 'Mama'" he gets a smile on his face and says, "Dada". It's almost like he knows he's being a stinker. It's OK, I can wait, I hear Mama, Mom, Mommy all day long from 6 other little stinkers.

Life is good. Life is busy. I am thoroughly enjoying this stage of life right now as my children are getting older. Have a great day!


You can see his 2 teeth he worked hard at pushing through. Just look at those cheeks. I kiss them at least 500 times a day:)

A silly conversation

Last night for dinner I did something that I NEVER do. I let each child choose what they wanted for dinner. It actually ended up being really, really easy because of what they chose.

Anyways.

Malakai chose a quesadilla and was standing around waiting for it to be finished. I let him use the spatula to push down the tortilla as it was cooking. This was the following conversation.

Kai: "Mommy, when I push it down I feel just like a cooker would!"

Me: "Mmm hmm"

Kai: "Well, I'm not a cooker cause cookers are big and work in really nice kitchens."

Me: "And they're called chefs."

Pause with a thinking look on his face as he stares at his quesadilla cooking.

Kai: "And cookers can use sharp knives and stuff."

Pause

Kai: "I can't use knives."

Pause

"I'm a little cooker boy though cause I have THIS!" As he holds up the spatula in jubilation.


This boy has loved to cook from the time that he has been able to walk. He doesn't, however, seem to remember that the correct term for a professional "cooker" is chef no matter how many time I have told him.

A secret? I sometimes don't even correct him because I think it's so cute and I know that eventually he'll get it right and I'll never hear him refer to a chef as a "cooker" again.

Twerps

This little boy here... is a twerp.




Do you want to know how I know he's a twerp?

You see, I had a brother 22 months younger than me and 2 cousins around that age to. Boy cousins. I wasn't blessed to live close to girl cousins my own age. Just boys.

And they were twerps.

Big time twerps.

Twerps that loved to sneak things out of my room or burp in my face(or worse).

Good thing I have a history learning to deal with twerps, cause I was blessed by one big 6 year old twerp of my own.

And I love it. He makes life so much fun.


He looks so distinguished and pondering here, doesn't he? I wonder what he was thinking? "Wow, look at that great stick over there. Maybe I should go take it from my big sister? Yeah, that's what I'll do."

Life with boys is so much fun.

Christmas and frozen things

Our Christmas was fabulous! My parents, Brother, sister-in-law and niece came to visit for 5 days. We were all crammed in our house but it was so cozy and fun and we had a blast! We gave the kids a Wii for their present and the rest of the family gave corresponding gifts to go with it. We are thoroughly set for a while and having a lot of fun with it.

Yesterday I had a lot planned for the day but it got completely stopped due to some major freezing(and snow). I got up early, took my shower and then sent Sarah to take hers but in the middle of her shower Judah came to get me saying that the water stopped. She had her hair full of conditioner and there was NO water in the house at all, our pipes at the well had frozen. I am not even sure how in the world I was able to take a shower! I was able to pool enough water to barely wash out her hair from the kids water bottles, hahaha. I was hopeful that I was going to be able to leave and get my errands done, however, the car was frozen shut solid.

Seriously.

And, being that there was no water anywhere there was nothing we could do! How frustrating! Sheets of ice were everywhere and it was SO cold! Thankfully, we had a nice warm house(albeit, without water) to play in with our new present.

This morning is just as cold and frozen. Fun.