Eight years!

The eighteenth of May marked eight years of wedded bliss! 
That went by so quickly, together we have many adventures and life is always busy.  Four healthy children, a farm to manage, good health, an abundance of food and clothing, a beautiful place to call our home.  God has indeed blessed us, and we look to Him for all things yet to come. We are grateful.
It's always good when a person can say with conviction "I love being married!" And I can:) I do love marriage!  It's probably since I got the best husband:)
Andy spoiled me with a big bouquet of flowers as well as freshly picked lilacs (my favourite spring smell!). 
We made it into a very fun day by going to Henderson Park in Lethbridge with coffee and Timbits.  The weather was beautiful, and everyone happy!  I pray we have many many more anniversaries:)

Someone woke up happy!

Mister with a sweet tooth.

And only since it was our anniversary... he humored me with a selfy;)

Seth went in with me to order the treats, and the lady thought he was so cute she gave him free Timbits. Not a bad deal.

Such strong boys!  ;)

Abby is about half of Tristan's weight (she's 17lbs he's 37 lbs!) but he does a good job of carrying her!

It strikes me as a little funny that the boys only ever want to wear cowboys boots.

Aaaaand just for good measure, a wedding picture. So you can see and laugh at how much we've changed. and how much older (and wiser) we've become etc. etc.  :D   It's the only one on my computer and not great quality. Sorry.

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:)