The End of August

No, this is not a passport photo - this was just his first haircut with the black cape, and his first haircut using the clippers. It was his fourth or fifth actual hair cut - this boy has hair, let me tell you! The clippers seemed better in the end than the scissors, mostly because they were quicker - get it over with sooner! It also helped a lot to have Josh hold him! 

  Man, I love that little boy!

 And his Daddy. :o)

 Saturday finances has become a bit more relaxed and interactive since we got the receipt scanner, because Hope is very good at running it, and Joy is learning. I'm happy it is something they can do together with their Daddy! :o)

 Up on all fours, not quite crawling yet. Him and his four little teeth. :o)

 Taking advantage of the end of the summer, with a few last picnics on the lawn. Hope had picked her own outfit that day, and we had gone for a nice long walk/trike ride together. :o)

 Ho-ho - a stuck son! :o)

 My Mum gave each of the girls some flower seeds for Christmas last year, and these were some of Joy's mini-sunflowers. :o) We will definitely be growing those again. :o)

 A visitor - Josh's Aunt Rita from Guatemala was in the area, and stopped by for dinner and a visit.

 It was a gorgeous evening, so we ate outside.

 Johnny, her adopted son, was able to accompany her, and he had the girls laughing and running up and down the deck while we did dishes - it was great!!!! I am guessing it was Joy's idea that Johnny wear her sunglasses. :o) Who knows? :o)

A big day in our year

Late August brings anticipation of BC peaches and all their goodness. Home canned peaches are well loved by all of us, so we make time to can some every year. This year, the girls really wanted to help and experience the process with Mommy, because they love eating them out of the jar so much. :o) 

I don't recall this from previous years, but this year, every-single-peach had a sticker on it. And when you buy 100 lbs of peaches, that's a lot of stickers to remove! Good thing I had my happy helper Joy-Belle on hand. This proved to be a great job for her! 

Meanwhile, Hope did different jobs, like measuring the correct amount of lemon juice into the bottom of each jar for me.

Joy was ready to help me fill the jars with peach pieces.

And Philip was a very good little boy, and played happily with his toys at our feet. :o) Mercifully, it was a cool rainy day, the day we canned peaches, which made the job more pleasant than if it had been a stifling hot day.

Hope had enough patience to help me skin the peaches after they were blanched and cooled. I was quite impressed.

The girls had had enough after a while, and happily went off to play, each claiming an empty peach box to use as their "car" or something. It was a great idea, and kept them marvelously entertained and contained. 

Unbeknownst to me, however, was this sticky glue on the peach boxes, that basically melted due to the humidity in the house from the canners boiling on the stove, and therefore it became very spreadable, and I spent two days going around the floor with Goo-Gone, cleaning up it's mess. Needless to say, it was bye-bye to those boxes! (the glue was on the top of each case, so I did let the kids keep the bottom half.)

 When it came time to clean up, I literally ran out of counter space, so I made a makeshift drying station. :o) Frozen pizza to the rescue for dinner... I had to laugh at the irony of it all - home canning all day and frozen fast food for dinner. Yup. That was how it happened. :o)

The fruit of our labours, and some to share too!

A few days later, we processed the rest of the peaches and froze them for smoothies. This time, Joy decided she was brave enough to try skinning some. Good thing those ones were being frozen for smoothies - they didn't look too pretty, with little finger holes dug in to them all around. :o) "Mom, I can't get it ooooofffff."

I'm thankful for the blessing of having good fruit put up for the winter, and for the grace to do the canning by myself this year. I've always had a mature helper before, but God had it all planned out this way for this year, and it was good!

Sunshine, rain, and rainbows.

 The cute boy child enjoying his new box of Lego from Grandma Langemann.

 Our friends, Matt and Val, came over late Sunday afternoon to hang out for a while. Thankful to the Lord for the fellowship we share!

 Just love this picture of Micah. Wonder if Philip will do that when he's 2 years old too!

 Just before they had to leave it started to rain, and then by the time they got to their car, the rain had stopped and a beautiful rainbow filled the sky. It was exciting to show to the girls, who are always drawing rainbows and seeing them in storybooks.

Seven for Seven

One Friday, smack in the middle of August, I took my three little kids for an adventure. We left a while after the sun got up and headed for the Calgary Zoo, where Grandma Lorrie (Langemann) would be waiting to meet us. She was up helping her parents in Swift Current for a couple weeks, and couldn't make it all the way to our place, so we arranged to meet in somewhat of a central place and hang out for the day. 

Sadly, Josh had to work and couldn't come with us, but the excitement of the adventure kept the girls happy on the way there, and the exhaustion of the adventure worked it's medicine on the way home and they were soon sleeping, except Hope. :o) Hope stayed awake talking about the day till around 10:00 pm, and then finally joined Philip and Joy in slumberland. And thanks to cell phone plans, I had a nice visit with my Mum as we drove. We got home around 11:00pm, I unloaded the children, put the girls to bed, nursed the baby, and then Josh got home, having decided to work late that evening. :o) 

It worked out to about 7.5 hrs of driving, and 7.5 hrs of time together with Grandma! Worth it? OH YES! Would I do it again? You bet! 

We stopped in Red Deer on our way south in the morning, and I fed Philip his oatmeal in the van. Then it was time to find a restroom. Public restrooms are quite the adventure with two toddlers and a non-walking baby. Stroller to the rescue! :o)

There's beautiful Grandma! We each pushed a stroller, and the girls took turns walking, or I packed the third child in the Ergo some of the time.

Philip had his afternoon nap in the stroller while we walked.

Stopping to watch the bear.

Only half of the Zoo was open due to the major flooding that occurred there this summer, so there wasn't a lot of animals to see, but the Penguin Plunge was sure cool! You could literally walk up to this structure/pond and put your hand in the water or touch a penguin! Not that you would, because of protocol, but that's how close you got to them. It was set up in this little building with very cool air, making it feel something like home for the animals.

Having seen the Zoo, we took off for a Tim Horton's in Airdrie and the girls promptly fell asleep! :o)

Mom and I grabbed our Timmies and found a green space where the kids could play and we could visit.

Then it was off to Boston Pizza for supper together before it was time to say our goodbyes. The girls had quite the fun time "feeding Grandma." Slightly wild at moments, but fun.

And Philip ate like a true boy - stuffing his face with his little fist and eating up all the food I had brought for him.

Mom was kind enough to get the kids into their jammies while I went and got gas, and then we had to say goodbye.

She is such a precious lady, and I cannot say how blessed I am to have her in my life!