sad sick puppy...

Suri and Sunny...Sunny is sick. She probably ate something she shouldn't have, and she was sick to her stomach several times yesterday. She started shaking, so I called the vet, and they so nicely added us on at the end of their late shift, so up there we drove at 8:30. Her temperature was a little low, her heart rate a little fast, she was dehydrated. She was infused with fluids and electrolytes, and given some anti-nausea meds. We have some special low-fat, mild dog food, and are giving her water frequently in small amounts. She still isn't herself, but hasn't thrown up since last night. If she starts to again, we'll have to bring her in for bloodwork and scans. So if you're a praying person, please pray for Little Miss Sunshine. She's so down, it's sad. She was such a sweetheart at the vet, too. She's a scaredy cat of strangers, but she was just so trusting and docile. We love her so much, and seeing her suffer is painful.

It is another beautiful day in the neighborhood...


Sometimes Paul and I wake up at the same time, and since he wasn't working from home today, he went into the bathroom first. I just put my robe on and came out to be with the little girls while they packed up their lunches and got some brekky, and got on the bus. (This morning, Cam made a travel mug of hot tea to bring with her, so cute!)(she said it was really cold in school yesterday, and she longed for hot tea.). So anyway, I put my coat and boots on, grabbed one glove from the mitten drawer, and went out to shovel a path for them. As soon as I got back into the house, the snow plow went by and made a new mound of snow for them to walk in, oh well.

Anne is coming over today, we plan to stay home. She loves to cuddle and read books. We read either ten or eleven books yesterday. Tomorrow, however, there will be chaos! Samuel is coming for the weekend with little Grant, from Virginia! Grace cannot accompany because she works on weekends:(. Sam likes to drive at night, less traffic, and Grant just sleeps. So he is leaving tonight, and will arrive in the wee hours of the morning.

So lots of family will be coming over to see Sam and Grant. We are having a gathering here tomorrow night, too, for the youth girls. So it will be busy busy busy. Then Saturday and Sunday, Sam will be going to a church conference, and I will be watching Grant! Paul is going ice fishing...and the school kids will be officially on winter break!

We are trying to decide if we can possibly afford to go to Norway again this summer. Plane tickets for Paul and I, Sonja, Jonathan, Char, Cam...ca-CHING. Emily, Abigail, Ben and Ashley and kids, Mirielle...are all going. So I REALLY want to go. We have to figure it out soon and buy tickets before the price goes up.

Ah well. Anne will be here soon...

five little friends...visiting their grandma...

Lydia, Anya, Elise, and Wulf...and:

Uncle Jonny holding baby Ophelia.

I agreed to babysit for little Wulf while his mama worked at the basketball game last night. I invited Mali over with Lydia and baby Ophelia, then Ashley with Anya and Elise.


Look at Mr. Wulf and Miss Elise, scheming together.




I made them spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, and bought cute little mini ice cream sandwiches for dessert.

Admittedly, it was mild monumental mayhem here for a bit, but mild. Wulf is a busy guy. Before Margaret even left (she was holding Ophelia), I was prepping dinner, and all of the sudden he appeared with a purple nail polish brush, and one purple thumb. Oh dear. oops. The gate to the hallway was open, and Sonja's room is right there, full of fun things to get into. I went in there, and oh NO, a bottle of melatonin was scattered all over. I put the nail polish cap back on, and called Jonathan in to count those pills. Thankfully it was a newer bottle and most of them were there, and I knew Sonja had taken some. There were no traces of any on his little teeth, so I don't think he ate any, if he did, it was only one or two. dang.

So we made sure someone knew where he was at all times after that. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and more alert too, ha.

Paul works from home, and today has been a doozy. There's a lot going on in his organization today, and right when he got an important call, Sunny barfed all over the living room floor, and I exclaimed none too quietly as I shooed her in the direction of the door, and out the door, and across the deck, yuck. Poor pup, but poor Paul too, as he couldn't hear what his boss was saying to him, and it was quite important. I suggested he maybe set up an office in one of the empty bedrooms, because I can't always just be quiet. He does not expect us here to always be quiet, but sometimes...anyway.

Hopefully the pup is okay. And hopefully Paul's job is okay.

There are not too many dull moments in life, around here.

beauty everywhere...

...aren't the tulips lovely? Walmart, less than five bucks.

Emily took this pic of her yard on Saturday night in the moonlight.

These two!!! I woke up extra early yesterday morning to drive Sonja K. to town to Grace's house, so they could go on their day trip to Ottowa. It was a lovely morning, cold and covered in frosting, white sparkly frosting. I got home and shh, I considered going back to bed, ahh warm comfy bed. I straightened up the living room a little, picked up a couch pillow, they're ever falling on the floor, and put it back on the couch...it felt a little damp, hmmm. Then I noticed it looked like something spilled on the floor. I got a paper towel and swiped some up, and, NO, it was dog pee! I am saying DOG instead of CAT because there was so much of it! I had to wash the couch cover now, because the pee-pee pillow was now on it, had to move the couch and clean under it, had to wash the brand new rug. It was like a 20 minute clean up.

You know, when something like that happens and you huff and puff and grumble, because of course you have every right to, no one wants to clean up that stuff. But I was thinking of giving thanks in all things, and believing that God sends all things for our very best. What a good test of patience!

Suri is the one who did it. She is famous for it if she has leeway and can go down the hall, ect., but we blocked her into the living room, I was very surprised she did that. So she went into Jon's room last night, she won't do it in a small room. I don't know why she does it sometimes, it's only once or twice a month, but ugh.

There were loads of dishes to do yesterday morning too, so I finished those up. Then, since I had fresh blueberries, I made muffins. I didn't eat any, either, which kills me yet I am not dead yet.

Emily, Evelyn, and I went to the store yesterday after church to get some dinner supplies. We made sliders, Buffalo chicken with cheese, and barbecued chicken. We also had roasted veggies: sweet potatoes and potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower, and Brussel sprouts. We made beef in the crockpot with crushed tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and a dash of molasses. We had fresh strawberries and blueberries, too. Mali and Josh came for dinner, and Ben and Ashley and Anya and Elise. It was a fantastic time.

Sonja, Jon, Charlotte Claire, and Camille came home from Ottawa tired but happy.

Now, it's Monday morning, and it's quiet in here again. :)

And I'll leave you with a pic from the past, little Miss Camille Anaya and little Miss Charlotte Claire...

living in the land of frozen...

This was yesterday...then we got a little MORE snow...



A few pics of the grand babies, Achilles Royce:


Ophelia Rose:


And the little things that brighten up the house in the winter:

(the new rug though, right? There's a smaller matching one too. Walmart. And no, I don't get a penny for touting it. I loved it, Jon didn't, the lady walking by stopped and said she loved it so much she was tempted to get one too. So I bought it.)


Playing their game...these are the only kids who live here now. Evelyn comes sometimes on weekends, and believe me, lots of the older kids come over here and there, and with the grands, it can be busy and crazy. But on a regular day-to-day basis...it's like a normal house now, ha.


Here's an oldie, Miss Charlotte Claire with Mali Rose, and Camille Anaya with Char...such cuteness!

Paul and Jonathan are out ice fishing this morning. I don't know how long they'll last, it's FREEZING out there, and on the ice out on the lake, brrrr! It's 15F (-9.44c) here, colder on the ice.

Charlotte Claire and Camille are heading up to Ottawa tonight, some of the other kids are going up in the morning, skating on the Rideau canal!

Yesterday was a very nice day, all snowed in and cozy. I don't mind those days, but I'm always thankful to know the older kids got safely to and from work. Abigail went off the road a few weeks ago, and yes, I know she's a big girl, but still, it's scary. I think it shook her a bit too, because those SUV's with all-wheel drive make you feel a bit confident in our winter weather, but it slipped and went out of control, off the opposite shoulder of the road. Thankfully nothing was coming from the other direction, and thankfully she didn't go off on the shoulder of the side she was driving on, there is a huge embankment.

I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies yesterday, and Sunny polished off at least two dozen this morning. She helped herself. The dogs won't jump up and steal from the counters when we're out here, and they sleep in our rooms at night, taking turns between us all. Paul LOVES having Sunny sleep with us, I don't care for it as much, she's a huge0 bed hog, but she loves us, and sneaks in there when she knows it's bedtime. She lies there on our bed with her head on her paws, with her eyebrows up, as if pleading to stay. I would shoo her out, but Paul is more taken by the expression. So when Paul got up at the butt-crack of dawn to go ice fishing, Sunny left our room too...and subsequently was unsupervised in the kitchen...and ate all the cookies. They were in baggies, to keep them nice and fresh, and the baggies were ripped up on the couch, so she brought them up there and had herself a nice comfy feast. rrrr. It's like having two year olds.

It's a good thing they're so cute.

Yesterday, being a long snowy day, with a lot of time spent in the living room together, we all wondered what people do who don't have animals to entertain them. Our two kitties often chase each other around, or cuddle up with the dogs. Sunny is always bringing a toy for me to throw. If you say the word TREAT, the dogs will both wake up, their ears forward, they tilt their heads...if you say, "Did they eat yet?", they'll be ON THE ALERT, wagging and making hungry faces, even if they ALREADY ATE! They are huge liars, ha.

This fine morning, I bumbled around in the kitchen a bit, cleaned up a mess of goldfish crackers that had spilled, changed the filters in the Brita pitchers, wiped down the counters, washed a few dishes...straightened up the living room a little, then, ahh, coffee and the blog. I do not take it for granted, the days like these, days with so much relaxation. No sir, I do not. When I first started blogging, Camille Anaya wasn't born yet, Miss Char was like 16 months old, Jonathan Robert must have been 3,(Robert was born between Jonathan and Sonja) Sonja Kathleen 5, Suzanne Eleanor 6, Evelyn Joy 8, Kathryn Grace 9, Margaret Cheryl 10, Samuel James 12, Mali Rose 13, Aaron Royce 14, Joseph Michael 16, Mirielle Joy 17, Benjamin Paul 18, Abigail Marie 20, Emily Anne 22.

I remember blogging while I nursed Camille...it was extremely hard to fit in computer time back then. I DID have five teenagers, with two just out of the teens, and Sam just under...those five girls in a row, from 5 to 10, wow.

Somehow I survived, ha. There has been an abundance of grace from God.

And now, the kids are getting up...:)

la la la la lah! snow day!!!!!

Yes!!! Paul is working from home, the four kids are here, all snowed in! We had a thick coating of ice, shimmering and slippery, then the temperatures dropped, and snow is piling on. The trees are just laden with snow, it's like being in a snow globe.

It was rather anticlimactic, I admit: I checked on my phone at 6:10 am, then fell back to sleep, confident that the kids are old enough to find out for themselves. It wasn't like the old days when the older kids were in school, or when I was in school, and we listened for the school to be announced on the radio, or turned on the t.v. and watched as they scrolled by on the bottom.

But, of course they didn't check themselves, got up and ate and got dressed, and right before the time the bus usually comes, they decided to check, as their Mom hadn't gotten up and they started to wonder.

So I have been up for hours, while they went back to bed and slept and slept and slept, ha. I did call to reschedule my mammogram, for April. April. Doesn't that sound lovely?

I am going to make them some waffles, they are going to play another game of Settlers of Catan. It was totally worth every penny to buy this game! It was at the craft store that's going out of business, for $25, it's usually like $40. It's nice to see them play together, and not just be playing video games or be on their phones. (In my humble opinion, social media/phones/online stuff is the absolute worst thing for young people! It steals their time, breaks down their confidence, because all the world's a sunny day, on Instagram! Not to mention the whole cesspool of bad-ness that's available, and the online predators, ect.)

So I gently steer them from spending too much time, I encourage and grill and pester them, because I love them.

I think we're going to go outside a bit later, again, I will have to pester and prod, ha. Inside is cozy, but I know it's much nicer to go out for a bit, THEN come inside, it's super cozy!

Yeah, so I'm thankful the dermatologist didn't find anything too dangerous on my skin, I forgot to mention that the ugly, scary, black spot on my lip is totally harmless. It's like a broken blood vessel, a Venus Lake, maybe from sometime a few years ago when I bit my tongue, I bit my lip to ha. I told her that as long as it isn't deadly, I don't care. The ouchie spray did leave some blisters on my forehead, cheek, and chest, so lovely.

I've promised them waffles, they say YES, right now, mom!!! So bye for now...

good news!!!

Today, I went to the dermatologist. I had a sore itchy spot on my back. I realized about a month ago that I had been struggling to scratch it here and there for a long time, so I had one of the kids take a pic of it, and oh no, it was certainly skin cancer, according to my Jump To Conclusions Map. I also have a black spot on my lip, and a few questionable patches on my face that I have been meaning to get checked out. So, it was time to go in. I had cryosurgery on a few pre-cancerous patches a few years back, and was pretty sure they had returned, and yes, they had. I had a new one on my cheek, one on my chest too. So I got a few sprays of liquid nitrogen, ouchie, but it's not too bad. The thing on my back, TMI, was nothing, nothing but a blocked pore, backed up and sore, itchy and irritated. The dr. worked on that a bit, got it cleaned out and cleaned up, it wasn't pleasant.

But overall, I'm pleased with the visit. I don't have to go back for a year, and I have to remember to apply sunscreen. I had been actually contemplating going tanning a few times before I get this milky white skin out into the tropical Hawaiian sun, but now, nope.

Going to the doctor all by myself, then to the store, then a leisurely sunny drive home, yup, nice.

I'm glad I had to opportunity to stop at the store, we needed dog food, and I got bananas and burger and yogurts for the girls' lunches. It's supposed to snow tomorrow, and me no like driving in it.

My water aerobics class is sort of on hiatus for the next few weeks as the instructor is going on a cruise to Antartica. I thought the other ladies were still going to go, but no one did. Sonja had to get some gym hours for school, so she went, along with Miss Char and Miss Cam. Davian was there at the pool with his dad, so we played Marco Polo with him, and swam around and talked. I didn't get as good a workout as usual, but it wasn't bad.

Dinner: a bowl of leftover beef stew for me. I ate mostly the meat and wasted the potatoes and carrots, too many, too carby. I also had some homemade almond/flaxseed bread with butter and some peanut butter, then a second piece with butter melted in the microwave, and a small bit of strawberry jam. Oh yum. I also had a nice hot cup of decaf coffee, because I get so chilled from the pool. The girls put a frozen pizza in the oven, and had some carrots and celery sticks. Paul ate earlier (ham and cheese), and went to cleaning the church and band /music practice.

Anne came over today after I got home from my appointment. She made a nice bed for Suri. I love the look on Suri's face:


Anne played dollhouse, play dough, colored with markers, read stories, had eggs and toast, and a snack (pretzels, blueberries, and a cookie). She played with the cat, who thinks the baby pram is his new bed, and she bugged the dogs. She loves the dogs, they tolerate her. :)

I am hoping we get a snow day tomorrow, but I don't think we will. It'll be snowy and icy, maybe freezing rain after the first few inches of snow. I miss the days with my girls home with me.

I changed the living room furniture around the other day. The couches had to be pulled away from the walls and cleaned under, and well, why not change things up a bit? As Jonathan said, it's not like it's permanent, we can always move it back if we don't like it.

We also downsized the toys a bit more. It doesn't make sense to have so many toys anymore, but the grand kids (and Anne!) still play with it all.

Ah well. The days go by too fast, and morning always comes too early. My bed is far to comfy, and ugh, I don't like getting out of it.

But guess what? I LOVE getting INTO it!!!

weekend at the lake...

It was beautiful, despite the cloudy day. We had snow falling daintily, both Friday and Saturday nights. We visited a few wineries, then went back to the cabin for dinner. Mirielle had put beef in the crock pot, and we had it with salad stuff, so good! Solving the world's problems, and encouraging each other to faithfulness, it was a full, good, and blessed time.

Yesterday afternoon, Benjamin had a Super Bowl party at his place for the boys, Jonathan made oven fried potato/cheese fries and a bean dip for their food competition (he won!). Some of the girls came over here, and we made chicken wings, and chicken fajitas. We didn't pay much attention to the game, and the half time show was absolutely shocking. Either I'm a hundred times more prudish than I though, or that was shameless.

It's always nice to have Mr. Wulf over. He's a darling. Here is from Friday when Elise was here too:


And here's one I stole, from Benjamin and Ashley's house on Friday night:

Elise and Lydia, and Anya holding Lydia's new baby sister Ophelia. Cuteness, right?

Tonight, pool!