Sunday, December 16, 2007

Choirs!

As well as acting, we have been involved this fall with a new venture - a homeschool choir. I direct the Junior Choir which has my oldest three in it. We had two Christmas performances recently, the first not all the choir members were able to attend but those that did, did a great job!




Later, the full choir was able to perform. There are 25 members.

Dr. Luke's Book

Several of our family were involved in a church play recently - it was called Dr. Luke's Book and followed Luke as he decides to write his gospel and does early research. The play was written by me, the role of Luke was taken by David, his daughter Evie by our Emmi, and Tim and Ben appeared as shepherds!

We also had a real baby in our play - a six day old baby girl took the part of Baby Jesus. I think she stole the show!


Luke and Theophilus converse with Luke's daughters looking on:

Friday, December 14, 2007

Blessed Be the Name of the Lord

Last week, David was returning from his great-aunt's funeral (in Oshawa) when he was involved in a car accident (he was not at fault). He suffered just minor bruising, but the car was totalled. It was a difficult day: the funeral, the accident, the reporting of the accident, the line-ups at the collision centre, talking to insurance agents, trying to get home, lining up at the rental car place, the traffic on the way home....

However, at the end of the day, he was able to tell us how good the Lord is. We are thankful, of course, that he was not injured, or worse. And we have seen blessings of the accident too. Tim has been wondering what God was trying to teach us. Emily was able to encourage David by reminding him our treasures are in heaven. And David says he was filled with a sense of the provision of the Lord while he was waiting for the tow-truck to arrive.

Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Saturday, November 24, 2007

The Grand Prix Open!

We recently had our church's AWANA Grand Prix! Emily won the first place for Novelty (things that don't look like cars) with her French Fries:


She was very excited to get a trophy!


And she was able to go to the next level, which is a regional meet called the Grand Prix Open. It was today, and we took a friend from church who won second place for Design. The girls had fun, but didn't place in any categories here, but were consoled by badges for their uniforms.

Maybe next year!!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

A Visit With Mrs. G!

We recently got to visit one of our heroes - Mrs. G.



She tells fantastic Bible stories, and we get one CD from her a month. We started with Adam and Eve and we have worked our way up to Moses. She has a building with offices, and we were able to get a tour, and of course to meet her and tell her how much we enjoy her stories. She gave each of the children a book - inside it is signed by Mrs. G. and it has stories in it from the CDs. The children were very excited!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

It's awfully quiet in the kitchen...




I realized today it was pretty quiet in the kitchen - thanks to an open bag of chocolate chips!!

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Apples!


We went to a friend's recently who happens to have several apple trees, and we were able to pick some! I was wanting a few for pies, crisps and eating. Apple picking is a fun and easy occupation, especially when the weather is lovely and there are some other neat people there to talk to - so we ended up with more than I had set out to get, but not unmanagably more, given how apples keep. We will be enjoying our apples for quite a while! We have already enjoyed one whole apple pie, and started in on our second!!

Saturday, September 8, 2007

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Today I completed one of my summer projects - giving the upstairs bathroom a facelift. This was not a full-on, cosmetic surgery kind of face-lift, just a new curtain, fresh paint and a new ventilation fan. Previously we had wallpaper and venetian blinds, but in the late spring our dear little Pip decided the wallpaper was fun to peel. And as he had started, we thought we might as well finish it! This room also marks the end of my quest to rid our house of venetian blinds (which I don't like very much - can you tell?). Instead, we have a very delightful curtain that ripples in the late summer breeze coming in the window as you can see here:
(sorry the exposure is so dark!)



Because I don't have the fancy lenses that the home decorating magazines do to show you the entire room at once, you will have to content yourself with a close up of the radiator to get an idea of the colours (called Whispering Cloud and Antique Porcelain). I love our radiators when they are finished - they are magnificent! But while painting them I have to be careful not to grumble - they are so fiddly!!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

The First Day of School

Today was the official first day of school in the province. We've been schooling a week already (including some yesterday - on a holiday!) but today the yellow schoolbuses started rolling. So to celebrate another school year, and also to revel in the flexibility of homeschooling - we took the day off!

We joined with a bunch of homeschoolers at a local park with a splash pad and had a "We're Not in School" party/picnic. To recognize each other (because some we had just known by email) we were supposed to wear orange. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera to get a picture of the teeter-totter covered with orange children!

It was great to hang out with some good friends, and make some more, including a family from our town that has started homeschooling this year!

Hope you all have a great academic year, however you pursue it!

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

August Entry

Hi guys!

I should probably put in at least one August entry! Here it is!

We've continued doing some fun things: camping, visiting, etc. which has given less time for virtual pursuits (e.g. blogging!). This week we started back to school. It's going very well, except for the heat. Emmi and Tim are glad to get back to math and grammar, etc. Long may it last!

We're also in the process of trying to figure out what extra-curricular activities the children will participate in this fall. Lots of options - we just need to be wise with our time.

Welcome Back to School everyone!

Friday, July 27, 2007

Science Geeks

Today we had a fun time exploring a local science museum! I know it is the summer, and we have scaled down our homeschooling, but being the science geeks that we are, we couldn't resist! Actually, it is an outing we have been thinking about for a long time, and today all the parts came together. We were joined by Granny and Granddad, and we had a good time looking at bugs, outer space, mammals and mummies (Egyptian) to name a few things.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Some catching up...

Hi guys!

Wow! We have been having a very fun, but busy summer!! We were away at a cottage for a week, and last week Emmi was at a local day-camp which meant a lot of driving for us, so not too much time to spend on the computer! We've been having some good visits with friends, and are looking forward to some camping, so the reports may stay a little spotty.

Another thing we are revelling in now is the abundance of fruit available locally! YUMMY!

The happy cottagers:

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Empty Nesters

Our birds have flown. I didn't get a picture of them just before they left - but they really looked like birds! They were having a tough time fitting in the nest! I went to water the basket some days ago, and startled them - and they flew away - and didn't come back. So we hope they are well. Here are the last pictures I took of them a couple of weeks ago:

Monday, June 25, 2007

The Summer BBQ!

For those of you who know us well, you know we have two annual events that we invite a lot of friends to. The summer event is just known as the BBQ. We had it on Saturday, the weather was spectacular. David smoked a bunch of beef (sirloin tips in a mole marinade - that's mole the Mexican word (Mo-leh) and not the small creature that lives underground) that was YUMMY! Here he is after the meat came out from its 8 hour time in the smoker:

The meat:

We also had some games, and just before dark some fireworks! Here is a moment in the waterballoon toss, which David and Terry (holding the meat) claim to have won, but as it was supposed to have been a children's game, we are considering disqualifying them.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Happy Birthday Tim!

Where does the time go? Our Tim is 6 now! He loves turtles, so that was the theme of his party, Auntie came down to help make him a nifty turtle cake:

Nifty, yes, but not so nifty that he couldn't blow out the candles and dig in with his friends!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Marineland

This past Tuesday 350 local homeschoolers convirged on MarineLand! We were among them! The weather was great, and no one was sick, got sunburned or heat exhaustion. All in all, it was a fantastic day. Here is a subset of the 350:

We saw a show

and enjoyed the rides of course!

Monday, June 11, 2007

Hey - we're starving!

Our baby birds are growing! They're starting to look more like birds and less like, well, blobs! The parent robins are getting used to us too, and will come and feed them while we're sitting on the porch. Emily is tall enough to see in the nest if she stands up on a chair. The boys just have to look at the picture I take, and occasionally they get a glimpse of a little beak reaching up into the air!


Hey - where're our worms??


Mother Robin pausing between feeding runs.


Time for a rest!

Happy Anniversary!



David and I celebrated eleven years of marriage on Friday! Wow! Time goes fast! God has been so faithful to us - we are still very much in love!!

The traditional gift for the eleventh anniverary is steel. I gave him a carving knife, and he gave me a stainless steel teapot - engraved on the bottom is this quote from Henry Fielding:

Love is the best sweetener of tea.

and the date. The teapot is double walled - so it keeps the tea hot for a long time! No need for a cozy! We had a babysitter come and we went out for a very nice supper to a local winery!

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Hatching Day!

I noticed that the birds were behaving a little differently around the nest this afternoon, instead of sitting on the eggs, they were both flying to and fro, sitting on the edge of the nest and reaching down into it. When they were off on a worm-run, I took a photo:
Later, we took another peak:

They are pretty small and ugly right now, and only make little cheeping sounds. But already Mother and Father Robin are working pretty hard!

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Poxy Pip

We had official confirmation today that Pip did indeed have a recent bout of chicken pox. When he woke up Friday morning, I thought a mosquito had come into his room and had a good Pip snack. Then, Saturday morning, there were many more of the "bites", under the diaper, up the back and on the tummy, and the marks from the day before were fading and starting to get a little crusty on top. Hmmm...

So far we've had all four children vaccinated against chickenpox and two of them have now had it. The doctor told me 10% of children who are vaccinated will develop the chickenpox anyway - we're challenging those numbers! (I know! Small sample size!) Pip's case was pretty mild, he's pretty well over them now, just has the little scabby marks.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Nest Update

Mama bird is still sitting on her nest in our hanging basket. I've managed to water it while she's off hunting worms, and I also managed to sneek a picture of what's in there. I think she's getting used to us.

Happy Birthday Ben!


It's hard to believe - but our "Baby Ben" is four!! He doesn't seem very perturbed by it - he grinned when his birthday cake came in, he happily opened his presents, and he giggled fit to beat the band when his Auntie Charlotte sang "Happy Birthday" to him on the 'phone. And he will proudly tell you how old he is now, and show you the appropriate number of fingers too.

Earlier today, Emily and Granny and I were remembering some of the stories around his birthday, four years ago. It's neat that Emily can remember parts of it! When I remember Ben's birthday, I am reminded of my overwhelming feelings of thankfulness to God for his safe arrival. His delivery was just fine, but after he was born the midwives discovered he had a knot in his umbilical cord, that if it had tightened during delivery could have killed him. In fact, we had a friend whose sister-in-law lost a baby about a month before Ben was born that very way. I remember feeling so happy to have my new little baby, and feeling chilled at how I could have been feeling, and just thanking the Lord for his hand of protection on Ben right from the start!

I still feel very thankful when I look at my four year old! Thankful for the way God has been helping him to grow and develop. And just so blessed to have my wiggly little boy to tuck into bed these nights! Happy Birthday!

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Monday, May 21, 2007

Surprise in a Hanging Basket

Happy Victoria Day Everyone!

We spent today doing work around the house, and playing too. Emmi and I put together this planter in a large pot that I made last summer in a pottery class I took. I can't wait to see how it looks in a month or two when the plants start growing over the sides more! My pottery instructor was a little disappointed that the pot was not symmetrical, but I think it just has personality!

Emmi and Pip are doing battle with the cold virus that has come to live at our house, they both alternate between feeling really yucky, and feeling pretty good. Instead of church yesterday, I took three of the children in to the doctor. Only Pip got antibiotics (for an ear infection), and rest and fluids were perscribed for Emmi and Tim (he's almost through the cold).

Saturday we bought the plants that went in the planter, and some that went in to three hanging baskets I put together. Today, when I checked if they needed some water, I found an "extra" in one of them:

A robin has built a nest! We took the basket down to admire it, and I hope we haven't frightened her away. I was amazed how quickly she worked! I just hung the basket up two days ago!

David and "the boys" worked on our kitchen, installing new baseboard and installing coasters on a set of cabinets, so now you can pull them out from the wall to act as an island if you choose.

Early to bed for the Marshwiggles, no fireworks this year!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Signs of Spring


Spring is really on its way! We've got some nice flowers in the garden including this Bleeding Heart. And our lilacs are out! We have some purple ones, and a big white on one corner of our garden. They smell wonderful!!
This has inspired me to put together some hanging baskets and a planter for the front porch, but when I went to my garden centre of choice, I was told their shipment of plants was only partially in! Some I was looking for won't be in until Thursday! How frustrating!
Instead, the children and I have been putting some gardening energy into readying the back veggie garden, we've got it dug over now, and Granddad added some compost on his last visit, the next step is to put up the "bunny fence". The rabbits around here are cute, but destructive.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Still pretty cool...

I don't know about the rest of my southern Ontario neighbours, but it is still pretty cool here for mid-May (which is almost is). At the Marshwiggles homestead we are alternating between nursing children through head colds (Tim is the current victim) and getting the garden ready for planting. Most years we don't plant before our Victoria Day "safe frost date" but I feel like we've missed a couple of weeks of good growing time. This year, I am wondering if Victoria Day may be too soon....

...stay tuned.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

End of AWANA

We participate in weekly church club called AWANA (it means "Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed" which comes from 2 Tim. 3:17) which focuses on memorizing Bible passages.

Last night was our final night and we had a potluck supper and awards ceremony. Grandma and Grandpa drove down to be there - which was great! We sang "Jump Into the Light" which went well, and speaking as one in the Sparky Band, was a lot of fun too. Here are some photos:

Ben gets his award:



and looks inside to see what it is:


Tim received an award:


as did Emmi:


Emmi has finished 3 years in the Sparks program and will move up to the next level of AWANA next year, TNT (Truth and Training). Here she is with two of her friends who are also moving up. They are a pretty silly bunch sometimes!

Monday, May 7, 2007

Tagged!

For those of you who don't know, people who blog play a game called tagging people. It's when you post a series of questions (sometimes called a meme) on your blog, that you answer, and then "tag" others to answer also. So I got tagged by my friend Kristi-Anna.

This game is to post seven random facts about yourself, or little known habits, and then tag some of your friends.

So here are my random facts:

1. It is hard to say who is more excited over new children's books at the library - the children or me.

2. Rainy weather is my favourite kind.

3. Spaghetti is my favourite food. (Preferably with meatballs, garlic bread and caesar salad!)

4. I like to snack on a few frozen peas whenever I cook them - my children are picking up this habit!

5. I have read through the Bible five times.

6. I prefer to have our mouthwash co-ordinate with our bathroom.

7. I enjoy painting (houses not canvases).

I am clearly a socially stunted blogger, because I can't think of many friends to tag. However, I will start with Rachel
and Charlotte

.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Jump, jump, jump!

On our music theme...

I have moved out of choir director mode for our children's latest musical adventure, and into the pianist's seat. The three oldest children will be singing in a choir for our AWANA closing ceremonies next week, and I get to play the piano for them! David is planning to bring the bass guitar and another leader is playing guitar so they should have quite a groovy band.

The song is called Jump Into the Light and involves a lot of movement (including jumping) so that the director seemed to have had a full aerobic workout after practice last night. Hmmm, maybe it's a good thing I get to stay seated at the piano!

It is a fun song, and when I practice it here, I always end up with at least one child beside the piano (it was three of them this morning!) jumping and singing along.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

A FULL House

We had a fun time this weekend. There was a big homeschooling conference this weekend, and of the four homeschooling families at our church, two of them went. Their 5 children that needed babysitting were split up between the remaining two families. We had a 5 year old boy and his 7 year old sister come Friday and stay over, and then were joined by another 5 year old boy on Saturday.

So what do you do with 7 children? Go bicycling! This activity was a big hit! We rode our bikes (some of us on foot, and some in-stroller) to the canal, and then took the ferry across, and rode on the bike path there!

Many of my planned outdoor activities were cancelled because of the cold, rainy weather (we thank the Lord for the break in the afternoon to let us go bicycling!) - we never ate the popsicles I laid in, but we did spend some happy moments with Lite Brite.


All the families met up at the end of Saturday for a BBQ (also indoors!) and a time of sharing what was learned at the conference, and what had happened while they were away.

Thursday, April 26, 2007

April Showers

April is fast slipping away! We've been having fun with our April showers recently. The children received umbrellas as Easter prezzies from Granny, and they hadn't used them until Monday. It looked like it might rain as we left for our walk to the post office, so I stuck them in the stroller. The sky grew darker... and then just as we got to the post office the rain started falling! Great excitement! Out came the umbrellas for the walk home!

Today we walked again to the post office, and then to the park where we had a lot of fun. Finally it was time to go home, and as we left, we noticed large, dark clouds rising in the west. We stopped along the way to talk to a neighbour with a new puppy (so cute!!) but quickly started up again when we felt some drops falling (no umbrellas in the stroller today!). We ended up running the last stretch, with the two littlest ones in the stroller. Emily and Tim were on the porch, and I was just lifting the stroller up when the skies opened, and it POURED with rain! We stood on the porch, puffing and panting, and said "isn't it a good job we're home!", and then came in an had hot chocolate. (Tea for Mummy!)

God is good to let us enjoy the simple things of his creation!

Monday, April 23, 2007

New Student in Twos and Threes

Sunday was Pip's first time in our Twos and Threes Sunday school class! He seemed pretty eager to go in:

And had a great time once he was there!