I am back!

I have not been posting for a few months but I think I will get back at it. We all had a great summer. We spent a lot of time outside.
In fact the children and I are still spending a lot of time outside especially since this past week has been so gorgeous. I am trying to get as much sun and fresh air as I can in hope that it will carry me through the long winters we get here.
My gardens did really well this year and we had a very abundant harvest. Nothing like being able to go out into your own backyard and pick fresh tomatos or beans. One very cute habit that Samuel got into was to go outside and pick me a tomato and bring it in to me. As you can see he was so proud of himself and amazingly he never brought me a green one.



Samuel has grown so much in the past few months and is starting talk in sentences now. He also wants to do everything that his older siblings do.



Samuel also still gets into everything though :)



OK. Tim wants some time with me now so I will go. I guess this was mostly about Samuel but he is pretty cute :)

My children like to help around the house and yard. They especially like to assist me when I am doing a job or special project. Some recent examples are when we all picked beans in the garden, cooking pancakes for supper, or cleaned out the van. Here is Josiah helping out when we planted the gardens.

As well as helping Tim and I with what we are doing the two older children each have their own chores in the morning. Besides making their beds and cleaning their room, Josiah does the chickens and Annah odd jobs like sweeping the porch.


Both the older two have started to do more cooking in fact they keep asking to cook something! Yesterday we made pretzels and here is Annah when she made devilled eggs. I helped a bit but it is surprising when given a little guidance what she is capable of :)

Here Annah is so proud of the end result. She was especially excited to give some to her dad and when he got home she went running out to show him.
I believe it is important for children to learn to be good workers. It is important to grow up knowing how to work and having a good work ethic. How better way to learn then by their parents when they are young so it grows up being a part of their character? Also having the mentality that they are a needed and important part of the family helps build a strong sense of indentity. As children get older they can truly be an indispensible part of the family if they have been taught to help out in many ways. I am already amazed at how helpful the older two are. And Samuel tries :) Plus look at the last picture of Annah- nothing like a happy feeling of accomplishment for a job well done.
What are your thoughts? Do you think chores good for children

Enjoying Summer

I know I have not posted in awhile but we have been so busy enjoying the summer that I have not had time to post. With such a long winter here you have to take advantage of the sun while you can.

Memories

When I was a child my beloved Nana (my dad's mom) sewed us a lot of different things. One of her specialties was double sided jumpers that you could wear on either side. While the other day when I was going through some of my things I found one of these jumpers I had saved. It fits Annah perfectly. It brought back a lot of memories seeing it.

Children and gardens

Some pics from a few weeks ago of the children helping me plant some of our gardens. They all love to help me garden :) Right now the two older ones are watering for me (though from the sounds of it Josiah just sprayed Annah with the house.)

hiatus

So as you have probably noticed I had taken a break from my blog the last few weeks. I decided to take a break from a lot of the "extras" I do since I am so worn out from this currant pregnancy. With all my pregnancies I have been very tired the first trimester and this coupled with low energy and constant naseau leads to little being done. Thankfully as I head into the second trimester I start to feel to much better. So now I am starting to do a little more. For the past couple months most of my energy that I had went into my children and husband, even my house went downhill. But we all survived and I am very happy to be feeling better. This past week I have started feeling the baby move which is one of my favourite marks of pregnany as it makes everything more intimate and "real". So I should be here more now :) (I hope, lol).

Grandma

Recently my mom was over here from BC for a visit for three weeks. The two oldest had a great time with her here and miss her now that she is gone as do I. Too bad Canada is so big. I also should have taken more pics of her while she was here.