The Farm

Diana invited us out to her farm to see her newest addition - triplet kids!  Ha!  Baby goats, that is :)
They were so soft and cute.  There were actually quite a few baby goats and several lambs, too.   We also got to visit their chickens, cows, and bunny.  We had such a nice visit.

My kids had been looking forward to this trip for several days.   As we drove to Iona Jacob would ask "is that Pauline's farm?" as we passed EVERY barn.  There are a lot of farms on the way from our place to the Alblas' place!! 

Both my kids loved all the animals and the big cement pad in between the barns.  Emily got to try out Daniella's "skelter" and Jacob enjoyed playing in the dirt piles and shoveling the gravel.... boys are so funny.

Thank you again, Diana, for having us out.  My kids already want to come for another visit :)

 The egg chickens.... I could have chickens if they were nicely contained in a coop like this. 

 Jacob and cows... He's loved them ever since he was a baby. 

 A very very clean white goat... So cute!

 Jacob chasing the animals around and around and around their stall

Happiness is...... (and actually the goat was quite happy too....:)

 Emily's turn

Two cute kids :)

Getting a helping hand from Daniella

Trying out the skelter

The bunny.  I told my kids we would get a rabbit if they agreed to keep it outside.  Emily said she only wanted a bunny if it could sleep in her bed with her.  Needless to say we are not getting a rabbit

Although Jacob certainly did love him/her :)


**And the blog is still going private... I just have to sit down and do it :)

Just for fun I thought I would post this picture of Emily. I am trying out my new blogging app. Hopefully it will work!


Please don't look too closely at emilys outfit. She is wearing her favourite skirt paired with her new black soccer shoes ;)

Going Private

I've decided to make this blog private.

There are certain issues/life events that I don't ever speak of on blogger or facebook since you never really know who is reading your blog/facebook page. I don't like to post pictures of others or their children on my blog since I know it is viewable by the public. I think going private is a smart choice.

I don't have any regular blog readers that are strangers to me (that I know of) so I won't be excluding a reader. Or if I do, I guess that's the whole point of going private, right?

That being said.... don't think I'm going to reveal some exciting secret on here :) I'm just talking about every day things like when Justin is away overnight or something along those lines. Things that I wouldn't want just anyone to know.

So if you'd like to be added to my blog reader list please leave a comment with your email address. The comment section will not be public. Only I will be able to see them. Don't feel pressured to leave some witty comment along with your email address..... just the basic info is fine ;)

I'll be changing the settings in about 1 week.

Quotables

While speaking to me, Jacob accidentally burped mid sentence.
I asked him "Jake, what do you say after you burp?"
He answered with "Ummm... I burped??"

After ongoing stomach pain I told Emily we are going to cut out dairy products to see if it makes her stomach feel better. I told her she might have a milk allergy.
That evening I overheard her speaking with my mom on the phone -- "Grandma, I've been sneezing a bit lately. Mom thinks I'm allergic to milk"

Emily, after hearing about a contest to win a princess prize. "Mom! Can we please enter this? I would really love to win one of five Rapunzel Prize Packs!"

And Heather VMS, this one is for you....
To describe something that smelled quite awful Emily said "That smells as bad as a bunny covered in rotten banana peels".

6 Months

When Mikayla was first born I didn't "recognize" her. She looked a bit different than all the other Pennings babies that have been born within the last decade. Maybe it was the Naves side coming through.
But now and again I see Emily in her. A few weeks ago Bethany posted a picture of her rolling her way around the living room and the resemblance shone through. And now again I see it.
I tried to find a good comparison picture, but this is the best I could come up with. I have a picture in my mind that would show the similarity a bit more but I can't seem to dig it up!
Anyway, what do you think? Do they share similar features?? Can you tell they are cousins?

Half Dutch

The other day I was baking boterkoek for the very first time. Emily asked me what I was baking and I explained to her that I was making a type of cake for dad.
We've never formally told Emily that Justin is Dutch. It just hasn't really come up! So I explained to her that Opa and Oma Pennings and Papa and Gramma Haveman came to Canada from Holland and they had children who had children... so and so forth....
She then said to me "so then I am Dutch, too".
I told her "Well, you are half Dutch. I am not Dutch and so you are only half Dutch."
She paused a moment, furrowed her brow and said "Mom, that is NOT fair. I want to be WHOLE Dutch."
We then had another simple and brief explanation concerning genetics - which she understood surprisingly well - and she paused again.
"Okay, fine. I'm half Dutch. But is Jacob half Dutch too?" she asked.
"Yes" I said "He is half Dutch".
"Good. If I am only half Dutch he better be only half Dutch, too."

Then she walked away.

Apparently being Dutch is better than being English. However.... a few days ago I made boterkoek, yesterday we had nasi for lunch, and tonight we are having boerenkool for supper. Maybe I can be an honourary Dutchie ;)

Can you relax in a messy house?

After putting a first coat of paint on the bathroom today I decided to sit and have a coffee and just relax before I started cleaning the rest of the house. *I always find that when I work on one specific project (like re-organizing a room, doing a seasonal clothing switch etc) the rest of my house ends up in chaos. When I stop the unconscious picking up/tidying up of toys, dishes, garbage I really notice just how much of a difference it makes! * Anyway, once all my painting supplies were stashed away until tomorrow I was tired and a bit sore. I put the coffee maker on in my messy kitchen and went to the messy living room to flip on HGTV. (Watching other people paint their entire house in half an hour always gives me motivation!)

But once the coffee had perked and I had a DIY show picked out I just couldn't sit in the mess. The crumbs on the counters..... The trains, planes, and automobiles scattered on the living room rug.... The plate with sandwich crusts left on the table. Ahhh!!! It was driving me insane.

So I set my oven timer for 10 minutes and got to work. It's amazing what you can accomplish in 10 minutes when you set your mind to it. I was even finished before the timer went off!

And then I could relax - truly relax..........

I always hear people say (and I've said it myself to new moms especially) "the mess will wait". And it's true. It will wait. But how do you feel while it's waiting for you??