My new baby

Yeah, yeah, what were you thinking I was talking about? I got a new van of course!

It's red, I love it! Just had to share. :)

Pickle's birthday!

Yup, that's right! Pickles turned 7 yesterday. He celebrated with some yummy meaty dog treats, a little extra food and breakfast and at supper, a long walk in the sunshine and some

good 'ol fashioned dog lovin. :) I think he had a great day in the life of a dog.

Jeff started a contract job at a new place and is doing well with that. It's a good company and he's excited to meet some new faces there.

Jeremy and Ryan are doing great and working hard in school, and playing a lot of k'nex right now. They are great building materials that spurs their imagination.

Emily is having fun with a new table that friend gave us. She loves to sit there and play, eat,

doesn't matter. It's all fun to her! She shakes her head "no" occasionally, has fallen in love with ketchup, knows about 6 signs now (we teach our babies sign language-it's awesome and soooo helpful!), and can do a few simple directions now. She's been trying more new foods. She is a very good eater, all three kids have been. I am thankful. This week she's tried tomatoes, broccoli, and lettuce. she really seemed to like the broccoli last night, you can see little bits of it on her nose. :)

I have been having a lot of fun trying out new recipes for snack food. Yesterday I made some whole wheat crackers and were supposed to end up tasting like wheat thins and they did!

I also made some raw, flour-free chocolate chip cookie dough. It was delicious and the kids

loved it too. It's made of ground almonds, and honey. So yummy and good for you!

I have some vanilla extract sitting, it'll be ready in another month but it already smells wonderful! Tomorrow I am making whole wheat cherry mini- muffins. And yes, the cherries are from our very own tree. Love that! I really enjoy trying out new and healthy ways of eating and seeing what the family likes. Toodles!

Not much going on that's new

just a few pictures of ping pong and Emily for you to enjoy! (that is Jeremy and Jim, Jeff's brother playing ping pong downstairs). Still waiting for the sap to run and doing life. Things are well we are thankful for God's blessings each and every day.

Fresh paint and cute faces

There are two pictures of our downstairs bedroom. The one with the red paint is the after picture, and the other one is the before picture. Do you like it! It's our guestroom/office.

We're very excited about the space! And then there's just a few cute pictures of Emily for ya. :)

School pictures

Here are some pictures of Emily "doing" school (which means playing and eating) with the boys, a cute one of Pickles the dog and Emily sitting in

her Little People's doll house. She gets stuck in

the doll house and needs help getting out.

It's pretty funny! Enjoy!

More pictures for you

I am including a few pictures of our various children and pets and a cute one of Emily at the school table upstairs with her scarf and purse- what a little lady! And another one of her

joining us for school downstairs in addition to the boys at their desks. Also is daddy's helper in the kitchen at the supper table.

Maple syrup time!

We tapped 3 trees in our backyard for syrup. Did you know that you can not only tap maple trees but you can tap other trees for their syrup? We tap 2 boxelder and 1 maple and combine the sap. The syrup comes out with a wonderful taste, a hint less sweet than pure maple but

very delish! It's really fun to see the process and it is very exciting to go out and find the buckets have lots of sap in them.

We got a new van to replace the one that we have on lease. The lease is due and we wouldn't have a family vehicle- but now we do! A beautiful, red, jazzy, roomy mini-van with a few

cool bells and whistles too! It has the dvd player, backup camera, and a remote starter. Isn't that fun! We love it and can't wait to spend more time in it on a road trip sometime soon.

Emily is growing and learning, just as she should! She copies so many things we do and sounds we make now. She loves to dance and clap and have a good time! She has the "fun" gene as Jeff puts it. She brings a lot of joy and laughter to our already fun-loving family. Jeff and I are so very thankful for all three of our children. They are such a blessing to us!

And my husband too, well, he's the BEST! Boy, he blesses me every day it seems!

I couldn't have asked for better.

And I included a picture of Shadow. He's about 3 years old and he is sooo lazy! He lays by the

dog's water dish and leans over to take a drink. He doesn't even stand up to do it! He's adorable but very, very lazy. :)

More pictures for you!

Still winter here!

Lots of snow sitting around still! The boys and their science projects for the co-op science fair,

and Emily's fever that we wish would ago away! These are just a few of the things that we have

been up to lately. Plus our friends who were living downstairs moved out so I've been starting to organize a few things down there too. It's been a good week except for the fact that I wish

her fever would leave so we can get our happy girl back. We think it's teeth, we won't know that for sure for a couple of days yet I suppose. Here are some pictures from lately, hope you enjoy them!