Living on a Shoestring - Part 2

While I was visiting this same friend that got me turned onto the idea of saving money by making laundry soap, I also heard her talk of her garage sale and thrift store finds. Now, I am not a garage sale or thrift store person for only one reason though. I don't need more junk! I am the one who *loves* decluttering. So why on earth would I go to the places that I drop off 'stuff' and acquire more of it?

Well, as I listened to my friend tell me of her finds: sausage maker, yoghurt maker, blenders etc., I began listening. Honestly, I haven't shopped so long at garage sales that it didn't really occur to me to go there to find the appliances that I don't own. In the past I have always bought my appliances brand new. When they died I replaced them from the store.

But last Christmas my Kitchen Aid mixer died. That was a big purchase. Actually, it was a real letdown because I had not had it for more than a year or so! And that cost me about $300.

It was Christmas and I was not ready to spend that kind of money again. So, I sent Ray to the store to buy me the cheapest mixer he could find. Well, that $80 lasted about 3 months. You see, when we make mashed potatoes, we make mashed potatoes. Think army quantities.

Then began a new menu. This menu lacked mashed potatoes. We would have baked potatoes, and boiled potatoes, but no mashed potatoes. I simply couldn't afford the money that was needed to buy a new mixer that could withstand our mashed potatoes, or the amount of cookies I make at one go: 6 dozen or more.

So we went without.

I should just tell you that this is the way that most of my appliances have gone: they bit the dust and were not replaced.

My juicer was wonderful for the year it lasted.

The hand mixer bit the dust long ago also.

And it goes on.

At Christmas I called my mother and asked her to bring a hand mixer over so I could make whipped cream for the Christmas dessert. When she arrived with mixers (two different ones) in hand, she said, "Why don't you buy one? They only cost $10."

I explained to her that honestly, the only reason I would use a handmixer would be to beat eggs and we used our hands for that. My dad got a kick out of that. Okay, I meant a hand and a fork! So, what about whipping cream? Well, that is a luxury. Don't make it. And anything we need a mixer for we used a fork for. Besides that, anything we buy would have to be decent to withstand the amount I want to bake or cook!

But back to the potato problem. One day, I got tired of not having mashed potato, and I knew I didn't want to fork out the hundreds of dollars for a good mixer, so I headed out looking for a good old-fashioned.....

.... Potato Masher

I knew that *this* would withstand the mashing that I would have to do to feed my troops. But do you know how many stores I had to go to to even find one of these!! Finally, one happy day, I stumbled across this in the Real Canadian Super Store.

Was that a day to celebrate. The cashier must have thought I was looney when I excitedly shared with my boys about my 'wonderful find'! laugh

So after talking to my friend about her garage sale finds and knowing I wanted to do more homesteady type activities, and knowing I couldn't afford to buy anything right now, I decided to head to the second hand shop.

Oh, my goodness!!

I had no idea what I was missing!!

The finds, the excitement, the treasures, the thrill. Wow!

Here are two of my first purchases:


I have always used a saucepan for boiling water for tea when my mother would come over. I didn't (don't) drink tea, and so spending the money on a kettle seemed such a waste of money. So I went without. Well, no more. I now own a kettle and I can not believe how fast water boils in it compared to a stove! grin

And the mixer. It cost me $3, and now I am ready to make whipped cream when we get our cow. Hold on to your hats. That won't be for a while.

Then there was the day that I was at the till ready to pay and Cassidy asked me, "Mum, can we buy this?" I turned around and there was Cassidy standing beside this....

I looked at it, and then left the til and climbed on the seat, just to promptly nearly fall off the back of it, as the seat tilted nearly upside down! I told him, "No wonder it's $6.50! The seat is broken!"
He proceeded to inform me that the seat could be tightened and all the gadgets worked. Why not! What the heck. I needed to get some exercise and I always wanted a gym in my house. Not!

As I was browsing around the store I stumbled across some fantastic skates for Savannah. These are the ones that shut with straps rather than laces. They were $5 and in excellent condition.


And then, I found the find of all finds. Ski boots, poles, and matching skis. The whole package? A whopping $20! The boots and poles fit me, and the skiis fit Austin!


Good thing I just bought a 15 passenger van. Ray will probably regret it when he sees me carting things home!

Watch out for further postings of other exciting purchases. I have found an exciting way to go shopping. I can not believe what treasures I was bypassing before! Now, the trick is to not buy junk. Buy things that you really need or can use.

Wait for the next installment: Christmas shopping thriftstore fashion...
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We can raise our children in the faith. We can teach them all we know. We can pray for them. We can teach them. But ultimately it is they that have to make the decision to make Jesus Lord over their lives.

Boy, I wish it were easier. I wish that doing all the things up above was enough to make them reach out and hang on to the one person that we know will *never leave us, nor forsake us*. It seems so obvious, so simple to me as an adult. I and they have *seen* the miracles. I couldn't imagine living any other way.

Just the other day I was talking to my oldest son and I could see he was struggling. He loves the Lord, but being out there in the big, wide world, where he is trying to keep his head above water, I see him finding it hard to put the Lord first. As I sit at home and listen to his stories, I want to just fix everything by my faith, but that just won't do it. His heart is for the Lord. He truly loves and trusts God, but where here at home, life was cushioned and he only had to love the Lord, now he is facing the world for real. And now I see life's challenges and busyness getting the best of him. I know he will regain his ground, but first God is going to have to become very personally real to him. And who knows how that will happen.

My second son also loves the Lord, but he is more worldly in his thinking. Of late, he seems to not have that child-like faith anymore. That is very sad, because if you could see how beautiful it is when a little child stops his searching for a treasured toy and turns to his 5 year old brother and says, "Briton. We have to pray. Then we'll find it."

As time goes by, and teens see our faith and see our results it will make an impact on them. But really, it is still *our* God. They have to choose to follow the faith on their own.

Yesterday, our near 17 year old had what would be considered a crisis in his life. For some strange reason our computer lost it's memory. Nothing was still there! Everything that we had put into the computer was gone. Old documents, photos, bookmarks, site favourites. Everything. I didn't even want to dig too hard into my memory to see what I could remember that I would be upset at losing. I restarted the computer, then I restored it to an old date. Nothing would work. We restarted it a couple times even.

Then that night, when Dane came home, he told me he couldn't find his Social Studies assignment. This was a one month assignment. He then began remembering other documents that he had saved but not sent into his online school. English assignments. School is not something he enjoys. He would rather just get his Grade 10 and be done with it. I tried to reason with him that perhaps we could find it, but honestly, I knew it was gone. He was sick, furious, and so upset, I finally had to send him outside to cool down.

After a while, I went looking for him and told him that if he could remember his answers that I would retype the assignment for him. I knew that he needed some encouragement. That didn't make him feel any better, but he came back inside and began typing up an assignment from this month. I told him that he should pray and he cynically said, For what? So the person who tried to get past the K-9 parental control comes back and fixes it? (he figured someone was trying to bypass the security. I know that didn't happen. It was simply his upset speaking.

Another thing is that Dane has been wanting to learn to snowboard. For Christmas we bought him a lesson, rental, and lift pass and when we went up two weeks ago we were told the lessons were full, as they give them to the school trips first. So he spent his ticket on a ski pass, instead of learning to snowboard. Last week, again, I tried to see if we could get lessons. I was told the same message: schools come first. The lady was very kind and said she would see what she could do. She would talk to the instructors and see if it was possible to bring another instructor in the day we wanted lessons. She has still not gotten back to me.

Last night, spontaneously, Ray decided to take the boys skiing. He took Dane, Cassidy, Austin, and Cooper. Before they left, I decided to call the ski hill and ask about buying some ex-rental skies. As I was waiting for the woman to transfer the call the thought that I should ask for lessons popped into my mind. (a Word?) I said a quick prayer, and when she came back, I asked if there was any chance we could get a snowboard lesson for two people: Ray decided he wanted to learn to snowboard! Too cool!

She said YES! Praise God!!! God is good.

I went and told Dane and he was pleased. I told him, Dane, I prayed. You should have prayed! Look how God met your desire.

No response.

The sad thing is that when they are children they *see* God, they believe in God with such a faith, and when God answers prayer they praise Him.

Later, after they were gone, I turned on the computer for Raine to do her schoolwork. I was a little baffled at the number of icons on the desk top. I was certain that there were many more than there had been yesterday. As I began looking through them I became hopeful. I was pretty certain I was seeing things that were not there yesterday.

Lo and behold, as I did a search I found Dane's assignments. Praise God!!! He is so faithful.

So now, these are miracles, and *I* can see them and know why I worship my Lord, but my son has to come, as an adult, to this same realization. I can't wait til he does, because he has no clue what he is missing!
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Briton's Skiing Debut

I had planned to take the children skiing this winter, but we have had so little snow that I thought I might have lost my chances! Well, as it turned out I was wrong. Though we have little snow, the mountain had beautiful conditions.

Heading Out

I knew that I couldn't take more than one learning skiier at a time, as it would be incredibly hard. The funny thing is a friend suggested that Ray go with me and we could take all four younger ones. I knew it wouldn't work, and am I glad I only took one because it was exhausting!


When Cooper was five years old Ray took him for the first time. I took him the following year two times and he did very well. He was up on the chairlift with me the first day, and he was very confident.

Taking a child to the mountain for a full day of skiing is a challenge. You better know the personality of your child before you agree to doing this! You might get stuck up on a mountain with a frightened child, or one who just doesn't like it. Keeping this in mind, I decided to take Briton as my new student this year. I knew that Raine was very timid when it came to adventurous things, and as far as Savannah goes, I really had no clue. She seems to be a bit of a tomboy, but I wasn't sure.

We headed out bright and early with the plan to meet some other friends and ski with them. Well, those planned lasted all of a phone call! When we got to the hill I got the kids all suited up in their ski gear.


We then headed to the bunny hill. The plan was for me to work with Briton, while Dane took two runs, and then we would switch. I would do two runs and Dane would work with Briton. Cassidy would take the next turn by helping me with Briton. I figured in this way we could all have some fun and by lunchtime we would have him on the chairlift. There is nothing like learning to ski ON the mountain, rather than on the bunny hill!


Cooper did the bunnyhill with us for a while, until our friends arrived. At this time, I sent him off with one of the mums as his chaperone. Last year, he did pretty good, but he was still a very new skier. I trusted this mum and didn't work about him in the least. I figured I would be out with him in no time and would get to see him at work.

Well, it didn't turn out that way. Briton took longer to learn than I thought, and there was some 'miscommunication' with one of the older boys, so I didn't actually get a run in til the afternoon.

By listening to the ski school instructors (I was not in a class), I was able to discern some key words in teaching a small child. Words that would work wonders when I was yelling it down the hill at him as he skied off into the sunset! "Pizza" means do a snowplow, "French Fries" are what they do when they take small, sideways steps to get up a hill, "Lean Forward" was something that became very important because he tended to lean backwards and then land on his little butt. He also learned to sit on a "motorcycle" when he was skiing, so that he kept the position where his hands were near his knees, and his bottom was pushed out behind.

So there we were - til lunchtime. By then I was burned out. Man, do you know hard it is to instruct a skier when they are not much taller than 2'!? Every muscle in my body was aching! Finally, Cassidy and I decided to take the munchkin up the mountain. I had to get some skiing in, and I figured, based on what the lifties had told me, there was no better way to learn to ski than on the actual mountain. I had done this with Colt when he was four years old. That boy was a dynamo! On his first day on the mountain he could beat me down the hill! So full of confidence!

Briton was a little nervous (minorly), but full of excitement at going up the 'big hill'. We hoisted him on the chairlift and kept him firmly in place. He was a little pro. He was so cooperative! I have noticed something new about him with puzzles and now skiing. That boy has determination. Dedication and a will to continue until he gets it.

Briton's coat looks a little big because it is! He left his coat at gymnastics last week and so he had to borrow Cooper's coat. He felt a little embarrassed at first cause he said, "People will laugh. Big!"


We got off the chairlift and headed for a green run. He was still at the stage of 'Sit down when I get scared,' so it took us a while to get going. Around the corner from the top it turns into a bit of a steep looking area. He had no clue that it was okay, and he would not die. *grin* SO he did a lot of this on the first hill...

I guess he figured it was safer than trying to go down on two sticks. I have no clue why! lol The first time down the hill was excrutiating. Slow! I had to keep picking him up and putting him back on his skies and then send him off again. As I launched him, I would call out to him, and then as he got farther from me, yell down to him, "PIZZA!!! PIZZA!!! LEAN FORWARD! PIZZA!! TURN!! TURN!" I could see him heading down the hill with 'French Fries' and knew he would be in the forest if he didn't turn them into 'Pizzas'! lol!

But that is one smart little boy. I told him ONCE how to turn - simply lean the way you want to go. I am so pleased to say he mastered that one immediately! He was whipping down the hill and turning, and I had a hard time keeping up with him. It must be the tiny size. Well, Cassidy would try to be his saver and would stand about 100 feet in front of him, but I guess that unnerved him because everytime he got close to Cassidy he would throw himself down to stop. In this manner, we got down the mountain in nearly *an hour*. It should take about 15 minutes! LOL!!

But this tough little cookie was so adorable in his determination. I told him we would get a burger if he worked hard. He couldn't less about anything else but his 'bohgah'. After he crashed and he got up again, he would say in a worried tone, "Me bohgah?" And I would reassure him that as long as he tried he would get his burger.

My Trusty Helper

Once we got down the mountain we stopped for lunch. As the lodge neared I began yelling down to Briton, "Pizza!" I could just see him crashing into the skies on the stands, or maybe the building. As it turned out, I needn't have worried about Briton, because he knew how to stop. On his back.

Full Control!

I finally met up with one of my children when I got to the lodge. Cooper had had some lunch with our friends, but being the child that he is, he came back for another lunch with me when I arrived.

After lunch we headed out again. My mistake. Whereas before lunch Briton was full of energy, after lunch he was tired. He normally naps at home, and it was now nearly 2:00 pm. He had spent about 2 hours in the morning on the bunny hill, working so incredibly hard, and then he did a run on the big hill - even harder. On that hill there was only one set of tears. The rest of the time, when I would call his attention to talk to him, he would get this look of intense concentration, stare right into my eyes, and then say, "Yes, mum," and head off to try again.

But now, after lunchtime, he was tired. But nevertheless, he did an incredible job. We made it down the hill in half the time of the previous run, and he fell much less.


He did have tears more though, and so we decided to call it at day after that run.

Teary Little Face - Feeling the Workout!

Honestly, Briton loved skiing and can't wait to go back on Monday. He will get taught this year, and then next year, I will teach the next two. There is no way that I can start from scratch teaching a new child this year. I have made headway with this one, and I am hoping that when next season rolls around he will be on his feet and on his own, and then I will put the two girls in ski school together, and then I will work with them also, and soon we will all be skiing as a family.

By the way, Cooper was fantastic. By lunchtime, my friend told me that Cooper was ready to ski with the big kids without an adult present. I saw evidence of this when we four (Cooper, Cassidy, Briton, and I) went up the chairlift together. I turned around as I got off, remembering Cooper's difficulty last year in getting off the chair, and saw him effortlessly and independently ski off the lift and head out to the hill.

Cassidy tells me that Cooper spent most of the day on the Intermediate hills (the blue hills)!!
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Living on a Shoestring - Part 1

We have had a very expensive year this year, what with buying our land and planning to build a house, as well as buying a new van. I spent some time at a friend's a month ago, and had myself reminded of what my plans were when I moved to this area ten years ago. To live frugally.

Honestly, I thought I lived frugally. Actually, according to the world's standards, we do. Our kids have only just this year been put in paid activities: gymnastics. Up to this year they have only had free activities, and then perhaps inexpensive things like baseball and soccer. Lots of fun and social times, but still not expensive activities.

We live on a budget - actually, we try to live on a budget. We don't eat out. We make our own pizza. We don't eat steak or other expensive meals. I have a clothes 'store' in my own home. These are huge rubbermaid tubs full of clothes that are clean and gently worn that will be available for the next child down. I have tubs marked: t-shirts, pajamas, sweaters, pants, shorts etc. This way a child can go shopping from within our house and we save a lot of money this way.

But all this aside, I still don't live the way I intended when I moved to this countryside lifestyle. At the time, I was ambitious, but I also had a newborn baby, plus a 2, 6, and 8 year old children. Oh, and did I mention my husband worked and lived five hours from where we were living. So, my existence was more about keeping the boat afloat than doing any more country living than I was already doing.

Things are different now. I have older children who can help. Back then, it would have been all me doing the work and there were only so many hours in my day. Now, I have children who are excited to have animals and learn new skills. I also have five small children who are quite capable of weeding a vegetable garden with my guidance.

When I came home from my friend's house I was all excited to begin my frugal living. The first thing I was going to do was make "laundry soap". It sounded so simple and was so cheap! As we headed home from our visit, we stopped at the grocery store to pick up supplies. My little ducklings all followed behind me carrying the containers of soap, Borax and Arm and Hammer. They too were revved to see what we could do at home.


The following morning, bright and early, Cassidy and I began our laundry soap-making adventure. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was charged to see how much money I could save by doing this.

This is the recipe that I am using:

Liquid Laundry Soap

1 litre super hot water 1 bar soap, grated 1 cup Borax 1 cup Arm and Hammer
5 gallon container 3 gallons warm to hot water

1) First, I grated the soap into a bowl.

The first time I did this recipe I used a bar of Ivory soap. The second time I did it I used Goats Milk soap. The goats milk soap smells so fresh and clean and I love working with it.

2) I put the very hot water into a medium size saucepan on the stove and added the soap to it. I then stirred it until the soap melted.



3) When the soap was thoroughly melted, I poured the soap mixture into a large 5 gallon rubbermaid container and added the 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup Arm and Hammer. I then used my whisk to blend it well.


4) I now added the three gallons of warm water and mixed the whole recipe very well.


5) When this was done it began looking like slime or goop. It happened very quickly when I used the goats milk. When I used the Ivory soap I found that it never turned slimy, it simply had a creamy look to it. But with both ingredients I have found that the laundry cleans just as well.


6) I then poured the laundry goop into a smaller container and stored it on my laundry shelf. When I have enough empty vinegar containers I might just use a funnel and pour it into them. It would be necessary to give it a good shake before using it in future because it does tend to get more 'goopy' as it sits.

7) When I do my laundry, I turn on the water, and pour in about 1/3 cup of soap. The concentrate then mixes with the water and then I add the clothes.

I have found that this laundry soap works perfectly well. I did a couple experiments:

First, I took a shirt that had a grease stain on it and I put a tiny bit of straight laundry soap onto the stain. I let it soak for a while and then I put it in the washer. When it came out it was nearly gone. Not completely, but nearly. Now, if I had washed it normally with laundry soap from the store my results would have been the same.

Second, I took a shirt that had a spaghetti sauce stain on the sleeve. I put the sleeve in the soap and let it soak up some of it. I then washed it. Nearly invisible.

Third, there was an item with blood on it. It also came to nearly gone.

So, I could use stain remover and it would remove it. But I was trying to see how good the soap was when used straight on stains, and I was pleased.

Now for the cost of this product. I know that when I buy my regular soaps I pay 23 - 30 cents a load! This soap? How about 2 cents a load! Yup, that's it.

The Borax was $7, the Arm and Hammer $7, and the soap, as much as $1 for a bar. I can get at least seven batches out of the Borax and the Arm and Hammer containers. That makes it $1 for each product for the batch - $3 to make a batch of laundry soap.

There are 52 cups of laundry soap in my recipe at 1/3 cup per load - Grand total 156 loads of laundry for a mere $3. That's 2 cents a load!

NOTE: The first time I did this recipe I used Ivory soap and about 4 gallons of water. I found that it did not turn goopy, but it worked as well. This time I used goats milk soap and just over 3 gallons of water. It turned goopy immediately. I have read that this is normal: sometimes it will turn, sometimes it won't. There is no exact science to making it.

But I can tell you, it was easy, and fun, and very rewarding.
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Super Cooper Turns 7

Eight years ago we had four children. We had never discussed having any more, and so I guess we both figured our family was complete.

We headed to Winnipeg for a visit with my husband's family when Austin was 2 years old. While we visited with so many of Ray's relatives, I saw the beauty of the relationships of his large family. There were so many sisters and brothers, aunties, and uncles. It was wonderful for me, a girl coming from an emigrated English family where all I had was my mum and dad, brother and sister. I had always wanted more relatives, but it just didn't happen.

When we came home from our trip I really felt strongly that I would love to have another child. I was pretty sure that Ray was 'done', so it took a lot of courage to ask him if we could have another baby. The reason it was hard was because Ray is a nice guy and I didn't want him feeling pressured to say yes, simply because it would please me. I wanted it to be from his heart.

Finally, my dear friend, Renee, told me that if I didn't tell Ray he would not know what I was feeling, and who knows how he was already feeling?

I picked up my Bible and used it to gather the courage and see if I was feeling that it was what I was supposed to do. The Bible fell open to a verse:

Malachi 2:17 "Has not the Lord, made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. And so guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth."

As I read this verse I felt that I needed to approach Ray. But I sat on it and waited. Finally, the next day, I decided to talk to him, but first I took my Bible and read it. As I opened it that night, again I opened to this verse. This was no coincidence! The Bible was not marked to this page. It was not worn to this page. I was supposed to be reminded of this verse. I was being told, Step out in faith and trust Me.

And so I did. And Ray said yes.

When Cooper was born we already had his names picked out: Cooper Malachi Courage. At the time the reason he had Courage as a middle name was because I loved the sound of it, and I thought it was a good thing for any child to have a middle name of Courage. When they are scared and have to face something, yes, they have the Lord, but I felt it was also a strong name for facing situations that called for Courage! Just recently though, someone suggested that Cooper had the name Courage because it took courage to suggest another baby to Ray. Honestly, that never crossed my mind, but yes, it would be a good reason to name the baby Courage. And of course, you know why Malachi.

Cooper was born and he was a wonderful, precious gift. The only thing was he cried. And cried. And cried. And didn't sleep. We tried everything. Took him to the doctor, fed him lots, cuddled him. Anything I could think of. Finally, at seven months, I began feeding him ground rice cereal. Homemade stuff that would stick to the stomach. Wouldn't you know it. He was hungry! We are told to feed a couple tablespoons for a baby's first meal. Well, not Cooper. That child ate and ate and ate. He consumed about 2 full cups of ground rice! And he stopped crying, and he began to sleep. The poor child was hungry! But how could this have been? The doctor nor I had figured this. He was nursing well! But he was simply really hungry.

As you would figure it, this is the child that loves and *needs* food! He is always hungry, and always eating, and not a drop overweight. He must have an incredible metabolism.

More Please?

A Happy Little Ham!

What Is Santa Going to Bring Me?

Cooper is our sweet, loveable little guy. He has a sensitive heart and great big crocodile tears when he is sad. If he thinks that he might have hurt someone his heart breaks. He has embraced his new sisters from the very first day and adores them.

When Cooper had just turned two years old his daddy decided to go visit his mother in Winnipeg. We agreed Cooper should be the one to go. I had just had a baby and it was hard enough being left with five boys as it was, including a newborn. It made the most sense to send the littlest and keep the newborn, 6, 8, 12, and 14 year olds with me.

I didn't say it was an easy decision. I just knew I couldn't do it alone if I had a busy two year old as well as a 3 week old! So I packed his little bag and labeled his little body. Labeled his body, you say? Yessiree! I used a permanent marker and wrote his name and phone number on his back, in case Ray lost him at the airport, or anywhere else for that matter!


This trip was very special because it gave Ray a chance to introduce his mother to another one of her grandchildren, and all of his aunties and uncles got a chance to love on another little baby, since all of theirs were all grown-up.

They had a wonderful trip and of course, Ray made it home safely with my number 2 baby.


Cooper has always been such a blessing. An easygoing, kind little boy. I can't imagine life without him. I would encourage anyone that believes that children are a blessing, to listen to their hearts if their heart yearns for a baby. God *does* provide for His children and He will bless you for accepting one of His little ones. And you will be blessed by your child's very presence!

I have a funny story to tell about this very day. I had laid some rolls to rise by the fire. Cooper sat by the tray and looked, and looked. And then he edged closer, and then a bit closer. I could see he was being very tempted to touch. They looked so very fluffy and soft. He reached out with two little fingers and poked one. It deflated nicely. He looked around, and didn't see anyone watching. So then he popped another one, and another, and another. Until they were all gone. It was hilarious. I had it on video, but sadly that video was deleted by mistake. Such a mischievous little boy! But wouldn't you have also been tempted?


A busy day playing in his room at bedtime! Crashed and fell asleep on the book shelf.

One day, Cooper was planning on running away. See the backpack on his back? Well, as he was on his way downstairs heading out to the big wide world he noticed his little brother needed some help. So he stopped to help his little brother dress.

Cooper and Austin are the best of friends. Little partners in crime.

My Little Copper Headed Cutie
(how could I be expected to cut that gorgeous hair! I have old ladies coming up to me in stores remarking on how beautiful his hair is.)

What Happened To His Teeth!!???

Cooper and His Big Brother

Sound Asleep - All Worn Out

Dane decided to give Cooper swimming lessons when he was three years old. Cooper did amazingly well, until he ventured out on his own one day! We were feet from the beach but he slipped into a drop-off, and it was one of the scariest days of my life. I thought he had drowned! The irony is one of the other very terrifying incidents I lived through was when Dane disappeared at a lake when he was two. One moment he was there (I had just done a head count) and the next second he was gone. We found that he had gone walking up the lakeside looking for a 'friend'!! I thought he might have drowned.

Our unfinished outhouse. By the time we moved away from this house we still had not finished it. It did the trick though!



Our boys were involved in a homeschool play, A Mid-Summer Night's Dream. These three little ones played fairies.



Cooper with his delicious breakfast in Disneyland. He was in his element with a restaurant that served all you can eat!

Cooper was a maniac on the rollercoasters! There was not one that he would not race onto. He loved them all. His big brother learned courage from him.

It was Cooper's best day the day he met Winnie the Pooh! He stood in line waiting his turn and when he saw Winnie the Pooh, he called out, "Hello Winnie the Pooh!" He literally ran right up to Winnie and threw his arms around him! Such a delight.

Cooper turns 4, Cassidy 8, Briton 2

When he was 5, Cooper became a little Beaver in the local scout troop.

The Beginning of Learning to Read

Cooper was a very slow beginner when it came to reading. He could hear the ending, middle, and beginning sounds of words, but I couldn't for the life of me get him to learn his letter names and sounds.

When we began school this September, Cooper was just at the beginning of the Grade 1 workbooks. By the time February came (just after he turned seven), Cooper had completed the entire Grade 1 and Grade 2 years in Language Arts and Math! He is soaring in school and cannot be slowed down. We still have four more months of his Grade 1 year to get through and he is racing through his Grade 3 Phonics books. It is wonderful to see a child take off when they are ready to! Just last night he took a picture book off the shelf and insisted on forsaking me reading to him and Briton, so that he could read a book to his little brother! That is why I don't stress about when they begin to read! They will begin, when their minds are ready to digest that information, and when they are, watch out!

With the Rest of the Short Patrol

Welcoming Big Brother Home For Christmas

We always do birthdays pretty low-key. Years ago, we stopped having a crowd of kids over for the day and began instead to concentrate on spending the day as a family with the birthday child. A few times in their childhood we will do something special or have a few guests over. This was one of the quieter years for Cooper.

Cooper was so impressed when I gave him a pancake shaped like the number 7.

Cooper will always be "Super Cooper". That is a name he acquired a few years ago, and that is just who he is. Happy Birthday Super Cooper!! It is hard to believe you are seven years old. Your beautiful little freckled-face is getting more mature daily, but you will always be my little copper headed boy! I am so glad we listened when God whispered in my ear about 'one more little baby'. We are so blessed to have you.


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