New growth and life

The potatoes are in.

Trees are blooming.

Yard work is progressing.

The irrigation canals are full of icy water.

Pivots are running.

Five new kittens are mewing.

Four baby bunnies are keeping the boys occupied.

Life is good and full, 

Our evening coffees are delicious.

Thank-You Lord!

Families are forever

Guess who turned three this week! ?
Rowan Carl Bijlsma!
We spent Monday celebrating him and all that comes with him - which is: alot of fun-loving personality and so much zest for life.  He's a character alright, and we love him to bits.  Rowan was thrilled with his soccer ball cake and drags or pedals his new tryke all over the yard with him.  We had a fun day with lots of laughter.

...and just for good measure... this (below) is the Rowan we know.  :)  

He says "That's funny mommy. Sooo funny Rowan is!" 

Sunday afternoon was a beautiful day for taking a few shots with all four kids together.

 It's always worth a try right? ;) And everyone needed a turn to hold their little princess of a sister. 

Abby's growing so fast, she now wants to watch us eat at the table. So we took out the baby chair and she's pleased as punch to participate in the conversation at meal times. 

Last but not least, we have a scene  from Sunday afternoon that shows the ordinary around here.  :) 

If you had told Andy a few years ago he would relax by reading a book laying down, with a couple kids bouncing around/laying on him, I'm pretty sure he would not have believed you. But here's proof that men can really do two things at once, and be pretty good at it:)

Contentment

  Not much to write about today! Just some pictures from our life to share.  We are trying to enjoy everyday that God has given us (and we've received some pretty nice ones!!) - to Him be the glory!

Planting the gardens around the deck

The  biggest helper;)

We found trees fresh from the BC valley - already blooming!

My snack monster. 

Selfies:)  (MOM! enough already!)  :)

Having a soother while dad has a coffee :)

Abby does not love her car seat.  I find her crying face cute anyways:)

Celebrating Easter

Easter! 

"Low in the grave He lay, Jesus my Savior,
Waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord!

Refrain

Up from the grave He arose,
With a mighty triumph o’er His foes,
He arose a victor from the dark domain,
And He lives forever, with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch His bed, Jesus my Savior;
Vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord!

Refrain

Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior;
He tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord!

Refrain"

Easter: the most important weekend of remembrance/celebration in the Christian life!
Christmas seems to be celebrated more but Easter needs to be just as exulted!  Andy and I enjoyed teaching the kids about the real meaning of Easter this year as we did some extra fun printables mixed in with the regular school work. You can find them here, if interested for next year:)  We got out the watercolors and markers and had fun learning some new Bible texts. I also was thrilled to purchase the Why Easter? book to read thru at dinner time.  Seth and Tristan love the format of Bible reading, story, text learning and singing this book has. 
We also felt very to be part of such an active and caring body of communion of saints here in Taber.  Good Friday, after church, we were invited to have lunch and spend the afternoon at our friends, the VanderGaags place.  It was also Andy's birthday so we enjoyed sharing cupcakes too:)
Easter Sunday was a very celebrated day not only by attending church and worshiping our risen Lord but also with friends.  The Bareman family invited us over for their Easter dinner, which we very much appreciated and enjoyed immensely the fellowship of other believers. God is good, we are thankful.

The past few weeks were very busy for us and the kids, as we also had the fun of having our little friend Cohen over for 9 days!  He's a year younger then Tristan and the boys had a great time together, getting into all kinds of adventures. 
. 

Hunting is always a good way to pass time

There was a camp-out in the basement

Chicks arrived and these little men got to help!

Son Shine Bible Time at church also finished the second 10 week program, meaning it's done for another year! Since we were done early this spring the end of year program was held at the Civic Center in Taber.  Tristan was one of the graduates and very excited to be part of it all.

He received his very own Bible. 

Tristan and Callie loving the hotdogs:)

Spring's arrival and other tidbits

    Spring is here!  Which means time to start yard work and such. We are excited to start working and digging in, literally.  Our imaginations run rampant with wonderful ideas with which to work. :) Andy pulled four old stumps out of the ground where we are going to put a new lawn. That way there will be no bumps for the lawnmower to go over. We also had to mow the lawn already.  Crazy. It's not even middle of April!

 Our second spring in this part of the world.  It's pretty interesting to see how things that were normal to you for all your life, once removed, make for a bit of a lost feeling, subconsciously.   
Things like "April Showers...", yup, no such thing here.  I don't miss the rain, but strangely enough I miss the sound of water seeping into the ground and the ground thawing out at such a quick pace that you can hear the little bubbles of water opening up the soil.  Oh and thunderstorms - they are a rarity here! I didn't even know previously that not all regions get thunderstorms!  Interesting. 
Things like sprouting bulbs all over town. Not many gardeners here.  So instead I went to the grocery store and bought a little yellow pail filled with daffodils. I will plant the bulbs later and hopefully next year they will peep thru the ground here.
Things like Spring fashion.  People are less fashion consious here too, which in a way is very refreshing, but I really do enjoy hunting for that new "in" colour and adding something trendy to my wardrobe.  So since my favourite sister shoppers are approx. 3000 kms away I am blessed to have a hubby who takes me on dates to satisfy that spring shopping craving.  :)  What did I purchase?  Well now, if you must know;)  I got a very lovely jean jacket in the satisfying new shade of peachy/pink.   Since I love describing colours by fruit names I would say its a mixture of Watermelon and Canteloupe.  mmmm.

For the rest, things are rolling along smoothly, chickens are growing and occasionally getting sick, just like the children of this house.   According to my latest research the dry air here makes it possible for the mucous membranes in the throat to be more susceptible to bacteria, and I'm thinking that's a great theory since we have been having some nasty sore throats and croupy coughs.  Sigh.  I'm sure the fluctuating temperatures aren't helping either. 

 
Abby is growing and keeping us smiling, she's such a little chunker and is starting to get her own personality.  She knows when she wants something and basks in the love shown by her big brothers.  The sweet baby gurgles and coos more then make up for the countless feedings and diaper changes.  I could take a picture of her everyday, but refrain, for practicality calls.  :D

We had a funny experience the other day when two donkeys came running thru our yard!  They were sticking close together and hod no bridle or halter on, but were tame so we figured they had run away from the neighbours down the road.  We put them in our pen after bribing them with carrots.  Of course now they  boys want us to buy them donkeys.  Which is not going to happen:)

 And one more thing!  Seth got glasses!  I think he should have been eating those carrots and not the donkeys! (Have you ever seen a rabbit with bad eyes?). We thought his vision was not so great anymore when he started complaining about the overhead projector at church not being clear enough to read.  Now he can see it!  I think it's kind of cute:) and scholarly:).