What we've been up to lately!

I just realized its been a few weeks since I've posted on our blog- it seems life has been somewhat busy! Just an update on my u/s for the baby's heart- it came back as something like a heart murmur, nothing serious, thankfully! 
The kids have been busy playing and creating things, colouring, building, as well as doing some baking with Mom lately... Baby L is officially walking everywhere now, and has been for a few weeks, so that's been keeping me on my toes- he is such a busy body, here, there, and everywhere! His latest thing is that he's figured out he can go outside and walk around and explore, so every morning he goes over to the coat rack and points to his jacket, and brings me his shoes. Yesterday it was absolutely freezing outside, and he went outside with just his clothes on, no jacket! We chased after him, put a hat, mitts and jacket and he played outside for 30 minutes, just trotting around everywhere.. he just adores the cats, too! This is L at his Great Grandma's 80th birthday party the other weekend. He had so much fun!

N is his usual, normal, crazy self, as always. I honestly don't know where he gets all of his energy from. He has been giving me a run for my money lately, deciding that whenever his Dad isn't home from work in time for supper that he doesn't want to eat his dinner. He just loves playing with his cars, and building things, and playing outside, collecting sticks, playing with the cats, or riding his trike, which he found the other day, and yesterday was riding around outside in the snow. What a kid :) We are working on teaching him his alphabet and how to spell and write his name. Boys I am finding are incredibly different school wise! O was so eager to learn how to read and write, but this boy would rather play or just colour. Oh well! Clearly he thinks that he needs to wear sunglasses while eating pizza :)

O is absolutely loving school these days, and for the most part looks forward to going to school (except yesterday, that was a totally awful morning- refusing to get dressed, not wearing what I asked her to, stalling for breakfast, etc- she ended up going to school w/out breakfast and had her hair in a braid, but it was not brushed- yikes!). She  knows her whole alphabet, can count almost to 100, and is reading at Level B now. It amazes me how far she has come even just since January. She loves playing with My Little Ponies, and colours on anything she can get her hands on :) She is a huge help with her little brother L, getting diapers for him, removing him from the bathroom before he gets into the toilet, etc, and loves playing with her cousins.

This pic is from last week @ school, where her class did an Easter bonnet parade. Olivia and her friend got their picture taken and are supposed to be in the newspaper this week sometime :)

Nate is doing well, steady with framing houses, which is a blessing. He recently got a new truck for work finally (he has been hunting one for over a year now), so he's been enjoying having heat in his truck and a more reliable vehicle. He got a Toyota Tundra (yes, we are a Toyota family now!!). His Chrons Disease seems to be in remission now, Praise the Lord! He is still going for his Remicade therapy every 6 wks, and that has seemed to control the flare ups. He did have something called Trigeminal Neuraliga the other week, and was in tremendous amount of pain, but that seems to have subsided for now. It was very odd. 

Right now we are in the midst of planning some family holidays for the summer, working around when the baby is due, of course :) We are excited to be doing 4 days of camping in the motorhome with some friends in June, and 5 days with family a few weeks before the baby is due. July we are sticking by locally and not doing much, and perhaps in August we will do some more camping, depends on how things are going with 4 kids :)

This past Sunday while having lunch @ my parents house for Easter, as I was putting Logan in the high chair for lunch, I either pinched a nerve or pulled some muscles, and for almost 3 days was basically flat on my back either in bed or on the couch. Today is the first day I have been able to walk around and do things around the house. I think I take my body for granted, always busy and not lifting or bending properly, as the pain was so intense, even heat or tylenol didn't do much! It definitely was an eye opener for me, being almost 6 months pregnant and not able to do anything, if I did, the pain would go shooting down my tailbone into my legs. Ugh, not fun! I think God was telling me I need to slow down a bit. Taking care of three small children, pregnant, taking care of a household (cooking, cleaning, laundry, playing), getting firewood from the piles every day, and stoking the fire, running around here and there doing errands, organizing things... plus chasing after a little toddler who just learned how to walk and yet still needs to be carried at times (being 25lbs too!) is busy! Thankfully today I am feeling much better, and have been able to vacuum and do some laundry, and will do dishes in a little bit. Its amazing how useless one can feel even just for a few days! I'm pretty sure my hubby appreciates what I do around the house more now ;)

Oh, I cannot forget that I have been doing new recipes from Pinterest too! Baking lots of treats, to give to people, or to have in the freezer for when friends drop in for coffee... the kids always like seeing what new things we are going to create in the kitchen.

Anyways, time for a nice cup of coffee and to relax for a bit before L gets up from his nap.

Thanks for reading, have a blessed week :)