Winter!

The other day, Savannah said to me, "Snow go up, rain come down. I want grass." I agree! As much as I love the winter when I have my woodstove going, I will be glad of grass because it means school is out, road trips can happen, and the days are warm!

Here are the kids on a recent day outside. There is no keeping them in. They will go out in -15 and be happy! They are so active with sledding and running around playing 'snow gorillas', building snowmen and just rolling in the snow. If it were just my three boys they could never keep themselves occupied for so many hours, but with the girls to play with it adds new dynamics.
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Skiing 2009

I took the boys skiing for the first time this year. It was a blast!!

My Boys

I took Cooper, Austin, Cassidy, Dane and Colt. I didn't want to take the girls until next year when they were stronger and ready for a long, cold day on the mountains. I knew that the boys would tough it out and didn't think the girls would be ready for it. Briton might have been and if it weren't for the girls, I would have taken him this year. I might try him in March if I go again. But then I have to be willing to hang on the bunny hill and I'm not sure if I want to do that this year, given Ray won't be there to help with the other kids.

The girls looked at all the pictures and said they want to wait til next year. Raine is not sure about the little sticks you have to ski on; Savannah is pretty interested - tough girl that she is! *smile*

Big Brother Helping

I left the younger 3 at home with Ray. I was impressed how fast Cooper got up on the blue hills!


The green are the easiest hills and they still require the big 3 seat chair lift to get up there. It was a challenge moving myself forward and getting him in line for the chair before it swung around the corner to scoop us up!

Top of the Mountain

All morning, Austin was bugging me to take them on the blue hills. I thought Cooper and Austin weren't ready for those, so I waited til after lunch. One green run, and then I said Yes! Well, that was a blast!


Colt and Dane spent most of the day off on their own, and Cassidy hung with me a fair bit. At first, I allowed him to go with the big boys, but later realized he was not in their level, so he was not having much fun.

Later on, we were all skiing together. That is what I love about skiing. It is such a family event!! Cooper, being so small, had no fear and would just listen to my direction and follow me down the hill, zig-zagging as we went.

Zipping Down the Mountain

Before long, he was down at the base waiting at the chair lift before I even got there!!! That reminded me of the days of skiing with Colt when he was 4 years old. He always beat me down, too!

Waiting For Mum

Cassidy, was more cautious. But I should have realized this would be the case because he was always a cautious child in anything! But he had lots of fun anyways. We will be going skiing again, tomorrow. I am hoping to go weekly til the end of the season.


We had so much fun that we went again the following week. This time, Cassidy had improved hugely, which was wonderful. I didn't have the bigger boys, so it was a bit of a challenging day keeping everyone together.


At one point, I didn't collar Cooper as I slid off the chair lift, and as I turned around (once I was off the lift) I saw him dropping to the ground from the now rising and returning chair lift. His skiis dropped off and Mr. Cheerful took it like a pro: Up he got and off he skiied with a smile.
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Breaking for Lunch

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Sledding With Auntie

I am very blessed that my sister was so thrilled to be getting nieces. At Christmas time, she was a great sport and went sledding with the kids off of our picnic table. I tried it a few times and it wasn't the most comfortable ride!!

Granny Launching the Kids on the Sleds

They're Off

Zooming

And Crashing

The Girls Wanted to Sled With Auntie...

"Iiieeyy", She Screamed

Ummmph! She Landed

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Boxes and Snow

It is funny because I have seen children who don't like snow, but our girls love the snow!! They are out there every single day for at least 3 hours! Here was a day when they figured that cardboard boxes might work well on the snow hill. Hmmm..

Snack Time

Are You Ready, Cooper?

And Over He Goes!

Savannah's Turn...

How much fun are cardboard boxes? They played for hours in these things: Rolling down the hills, sliding, pushing, and then building houses with them.
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God Meets Our Needs

Our little girls came to us knowing God as a person that they prayed to at the Transition House. They knew that "God is good," as that was what they would write in their little paper notebooks at the Transition House. I am very happy that they were introduced to God through our agency!

But once the girls were home, it has been so fun to show them that God is ALIVE and loves them and meets their needs and sometimes even their *wants*!

An example of God taking care of our ever expanding family is some recent requisitions. I never used to take the kids skating because I was always pregnant, nursing or had a wee one. Last year, when I had none of the above, Ray came home from the dump with a pair of women's skates - perfect condition, just my size. God is good!

I was able to take the kids skating for the first time in years!! Usually I would just watch from the side, as they had fun. It was great fun for me! But boy were my feet tired after!

As we have had the boys we have had people pass on skates to us. The only ones that have not had hand-me-downs, to which we have not really addressed serious prayer, are our older boys. Yes, I could run out and spend $80 per boy, but that is a lot and they don't skate every week. Also, I could buy a pair for birthday or Christmas presents, but they don't show a great desire to skate, so I haven't used a present on one of them that way. We make do.

Now, how the girls saw that God saw *them* and knew *their* individual needs was through skates. One day, a customer of Ray's called and said he had some girls skates; did we want them? A few days later, Ray came home from work with a box of skates. Two pairs. Mint condition. Pretty little white skates, complete with skate guards! Exactly the size that the girls needed: 12 and 1. God is good!

Here is another example of God meeting our needs. Our boys have town coats and scruffy coats. Their ski pants don't hit the garbage as soon as they get a scuff or a small tear in the knee. It isn't like we are at the ski hill all the time: who could afford it with eight kids!

Last year, my good friend, Denise, sent me a snow suit for one of the girls. It was a one piece, brand new, navy blue, size 6+ snow suit. She meant it for the girls. Well, as it turned out, I had bought the girls new winter coats and we had hand-me-down snow pants, so they were all set. But Cooper saw this snowsuit and thought it was wonderful! So he claimed it. He loves it. It is so warm and much better and more efficient than a 2 piece suit.

But I should just mention there was one small thing that made it a girl's snowsuit: the embroidered flowers on the chest and the pink trim around the hat. *grin* Of course, my sweet little Cooper didn't notice these. He just loved his warm snowsuit!


Then the day before we were going to go to the Tubing Hill for the first time, we received a box from a friend that lives a number of hours away from us. She had some snow clothes from her grandsons and wondered if I could use it.

When I opened the box this is what I found: a wonderful pair of snow pants that fitted Cooper perfectly. Pants that could go very nicely with his *boys* (grin) black and yellow snow jacket and would therefore, look very *boyish* for the public hill. (Not that he cared or even noticed!)

On top of that, there were waterproof pants that would work so well for my cadet boys who do outdoor camping during spring, winter, and fall!! God is good!

And last, not least, in the box was a beautiful winter jacket and matching ski pants - that fit ME! I have never really gone out and bought a set of ski pants because I have been so busy nursing, being pregnant or tied up in the house with tinies. I have always 'made do' in previous years, when I did play outside with the children. This was the year that I was making my entrance on the ski and tubing hills!

To boot, when I put my new ski-suit on my boys told me that it was not a boys outfit; it had to be a girls! And this coming from a house with grandsons! Who knows why, but once again, God is good! I love how God doesn't just meet our needs, but often times because He knows our hearts, He will meet a simple little desire of a mum's heart, like not putting a little boy on a ski hill in flowers! *smile*
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Happy New Years!

We contemplated what we would do for New Years this year. We could take the kids tubing at the hill again, or we could rent a stack of movies, buy some treats, pop, and pop some popcorn. The kids chose the relaxing New Years.

The whole crowd enjoyed watching Fly Me To The Moon - a cute 3D movie about 3 flies that go to the moon.


Then they went to bed and the middle kids: Austin and Cassidy, stayed up for the next movie, and they were sent off to bed, and the older boys, Ray, and I stayed up til 1:00 am watching the last movie. It was relaxing, but really nice to just veg out and watch some movies after a very hectic year!
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Tubing 2008

I had a hard time not putting up all these photos, since this is my journal for my kids. So you will have lots of wonderful pictures to view. *smile*

I decided pretty spontaneously this morning to take the kids tubing. I am a very spontaneous person. I find the way I do things is make a decision and then act on it, but I do not inform anyone until I am almost totally ready. So, it would not be out of character for me to decide to take a 24 hour road trip with my children, not inform then, pack the bags secretly, load the van without anyone knowing, and then ask them all to get into the car: we are going to town. Once past town they would ask me, Where are we going? We passed town.

Oh, well, I wonder. We will just have to drive and see. *laugh*

Life is for adventures and fun! Who wants to be predictable!

So this morning, I did the same thing. This was no big deal, of course. It was simply to the local ski hill. This is literally 5 minutes from our house!! How fortunate are we! But because I do not like chaos, I did not tell anyone until they were in the car. I decided at breakfast to go, and then told one child who could help me, and then it was calm as we were preparing. You can imagine the bedlam if I had told them they were going tubing today!

We Really Do Need a 12 - 15 Passenger! One Day...

What Are You Doing in There!

The girls think they have encountered tubing and snow at our house! It was time to take them to a real tubing hill!

Waiting For Mum

Briton started off the morning with me convincing him to go down the hill.

Briton and Big Brother, Colt

I gently put him in the tube and gave it a shove. He followed his big brother down the hill and that was the beginning of him having a blast.


We began the morning by pairing up a big boy with a little one. This lasted for all of a couple runs and then we realized the little ones were quite capable of doing the work themselves.


That was until one certain little girl decided she needed a big brother to haul her up the hills. They were very obliging and took great care of their little charges. Briton was a hoot. Of course!



There was one time when he was on the hill and he had been in a group of three tubes and the had come to a stand still. One of our big boys came down the hill after them, did not veer off, as they usually would do, and instead, went POW into Briton. Briton went airborne for about 18 inches before landing back in his tube. I thought he might cry, but no, not Briton. He was having a blast.


This was really fun. I have not had a gap in 17 years of being pregnant or having a tiny one, until now. So this was the first time that I felt like I could get out there and have a great time without having to stop to nurse or look after a baby, or be too pregnant to go sliding down a hill.


Colt, Dane, and Cassidy found themselves a way to not wait in the lineups. The 'mother' in me wanted to correct them, but at the same time, I realized that what they were doing was not wrong - it was creative and not hurting anyone. So I let them do it. They would wait near the front of the line and when a tow rope went by that the tow person couldn't get a hold of, they would grab it and take the ride up. The liftie didn't mind and the unused tow bar didn't go unused. And the boys got more rides in.

Colt and Dane Chatting With the Liftie

As usual, Gadisae proved to be a real tomboy. When she was going up the tow rope she would try to hang out the sides, stand up and turn around, or even climb out on the hill!

Briton and Cooper had a couple times where their tow rope fell off the bar and they had to hike up. Thankfully, for Briton, being so tiny, one of his big brothers would usually come by and swoop him up.


Briton and Colt and Dane would come down together, and once, they were plowing snow as they came down.


Briton was a fabulous sport, as he got a faceful of snow dust! All that snow on the tube was a facewash Briton got on that run.

Snow Blown, But Still Loving It

Rosy Cheeks!

Breaking For Lunch

Speaking of lunch. You should have seen those girls inhale their carrots and green peppers, when they realized I was going back to the hill as soon as I was done! They were the first ones done! They were not planning on missing a minute on the hill!

Didi, How Much Longer Til Our Turn?

Austin, What's It Like Tubing Blind?

Crazy Dude, Cassidy

Another Big Brother Helping Wee Briton

While we were at the hill, Colt and Dane got offered jobs as lift operators. The money is lousy, but they would not be doing it for the money. This is a great way for them to afford to snowboard, snowmobile, ski, and tube for free! When they are on the job there they get to bomb around on the snowmobiles doing different jobs!

I told my boys just recently, the memories I have that I do not regret, but actually embrace, of being 'not so wealthy' (poor - but I didn't realize it was poor) when I was a child. I have great remembrances of all the creative choices we had to come up with to make things work for us. For example, *smile*, when I wanted to sew (as I was always creative) and I did not have elastic to make the doll clothes, I simply cut the elastic out of my underwear! *laugh* My mother was not impressed, but that has created a fond memory for me! *grin*

I also am very grateful that I had to come up with things I wanted and did not have them handed to me on a silver platter. It was just normal for us. Our parents provided what was expected and we came up with the extras. Now I am so glad that my kids will have this same opportunity! They could choose to go without on the snow hill, or they could realize that working for a few rides is worth it. The hard work creates joy in the heart when they receive the reward of the skiing, tubing etc.

I am so proud of my big boys for being such willing helpers to all the little ones, so that we could all have a truly wonderful day.
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