All in a days work

Welcome to our life:)
Where the days are long and the years are short.
Where we run all day long after rambunctious toddlers and disciple high energy children.
Where we plan meals that take 30 minutes to make and 5 minutes to devour.
Where we change diapers, feed pets, weed gardens and read books like they are all going out of style.
Where we laugh and cry over life and the crazy turns it takes.
Where we learn and discover everything we can about the world we are in and Who made it.
Where we go to bed exhausted but we know that exhausted is a good thing, for we've worked hard.
And where we gaze in wonder at the beautiful little faces in this house and pray for strong growth in bodies and souls.
This is our life.  It's intense and full. Good and blessed.
  

 Marla at 2 months.  Such a sweetheart. 

The boys all want to hold her daily. She is cherished.

The best load of laundry :)

Dad and his girls!

I have to make time to do some sewing.  

Of course. 

Because who can resist matching leggings?

Andy bought a BIG van!  He says its for me, but he can't stop grinning when he drives it or sees me driving it.  Now we can throw in kids, strollers, water bottles, a potty and still all go to Costco for the largest pack of toilet paper. 

This van is fun, it's a  Nissan NV3500 so has some power (about the only things making me feel cool while driving it around haha). So far it drives like a Cadillac, and the best part: we can separate the kids on long trips ;) 

We finished up school last week in May. I got feverish yet to get some fun projects in, so we did a Charlotte Mason Picture study on Rembrandt van Rijn in the last weeks as well as a unit on astronomy.   All of it was enjoyed by Mom and kids.

Cousins Asher and Charlotte came for a visit during Easter and of course we had to make matching leggings.  ;) Such little sweeties these babes are. 

 

Beppe comes over

I am so far behind.
It's incredible really. ;)
BUT I really do want to keep putting and organizing my photos so here goes! 

We've had such a flood of visitors the past several months its been nothing but parties!
Middle of March led to the arrival of Uncle Auke, Aunt Carina and Beppe for a week, and we were really looking forward to it.
So, just for the record, we had a really fun time, and we are so thankful they could come, we love you all, buuuut not much went according to plan.  It was all quite funny and remarkable how that much could go wrong in such a short time but we made the most of it and were gracious and everything turned out well even though not as we had hoped.   Love good spirits:) 
First of all their flight was cancelled and they had to catch another flight later in the day from Toronto.   I had been sent a message thru 'What's Ap' telling me about the change of plans but my phone isn't up to snuff and so I never got the message. Here we were expecting guests for supper and no one showed up, we tried getting a hold of them but to no avail so we figured we must have had the wrong dates (or the plane went down??!).  Hours later the company finally arrived. Yay!
The next day was Sunday and we had a dump of snow, and of course we didn't clear the driveway or anything as we were not expecting such a big dump, and as we were leaving to church we got stuck in our own driveway.  Talk about cranky husband;)  Heavy, dense and cold, it wasn't a pleasant surprise!
From Monday till Wednesday we had booked a condo in Fernie BC to go on a ski trip. And we did go and have fun, but again not much went according to plan as it rained most of the time. We spent the day Monday at Castle Mountain and from there went on to Fernie but never once did the rain clouds lift off the mountain (insert sad face). Thankfully we had a really nice place to stay at and we did find other things to do - good thing we all took our bathing suits along! To make the adventure complete, Auke hit a deer on the highway which did some good damage to the rental car. Thankfully it was still drive-able although it did waste a considerable amount of time trying to get the police report done since it happened at a very inopportune location (on the border of Alberta while we were staying in BC). 
I don't have that many pictures as I feel like I have been so busy taking care of all the little and sometimes big people there's not alot of imagination left for taking pictures, but here is what I have.  Thanks for coming Beppe, Auke and Carina, it's always special for us to show people our part of the planet.  We are thankful you took the time out of your busy lives to invest in us. Thanks also for introducing us to the Mrs Vickies Kettle chips - which I have since discovered Costco sells in gigantic bags :D
 

These are a few of my favourite things... (updated)

Special thanks for these pictures go to sisters Natasha and Jocelyn. 

Thanks to both of you for just being you. xxx

Fond memories with Marla.

Raindrops on roses

And whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream-colored ponies and crisp apple strudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells
And schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver-white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel so bad

Meeting Aunts and Cousins

Apparently Marla was the perfect reason for my sister-friends to come visit and what a treat this was for me. It was the first cousins and aunts she met and I'm sure they made quite the impression!   Marla was almost three weeks old when they came together for a weekend with their babies, Kyrie and Asher.  This was a super special visit and not something that would happen again too quickly, and we sure had alot of fun gabbing up a storm. (Poor Andy  ;p ).  There's nothing like old friends to bring out the "relax" in everyone.  The kids got to play with cousins and the moms could drink coffee, eat donuts (lol) and shop.  And of course we had to take pictures. Lots of them. Natasha has a love for taking pictures and Jocelyn sews baby photography props. I had the baby so between the three of us we had a perfect set up (pictures will be posted in separate post).  Thanks for sharing your talent and spending some time here and letting me show you how we live out here in the west.  Let's do it again sometime :) 

Cousins and destined to be friends - how I love this picture!  

Cuddles with Aunt Jocelyn

And also cuddles with Aunt Natasha, poor Kyrie didn't want to share her mom!

Bath time all together. Blonde, blue eyed beauties

Time for some photography!

 
 Seth and Tristan also enjoyed the extra children running around and were helpful when we needed it.
Below is a scene that happened a few times and made us laugh, but obviously wasn't fun for the ones involved, although Asher seems quite unperturbed here. All three were bottle babies and had the same bottle which led to some bottle wars. All three were also out of sorts to some degree so the noise level was louder then it should/could have been....  Oh the poor dears!! :) Although they did get used to each other eventually.

I just had to include this picture below of Marla and I. This is her classic look and I don't want to forget it as she is changing so fast and her face is just so precious!  She's staring up at me with her big eyes saying "Is that right Mom? I love you too!".  ;)

First few weeks with Marla

...and then there were five.  💙💙💙💜💗

 And just like that we were home again and the days and week rushed by!  All went so well with the birth and recovery that we were up and at it in no time at all, and we had to be too as we were bombarded (in the best way possible) with company from all over. 

Abby and Marla ~ sisters

 Me and my baby :)

The first week we had many people offering to take care of the older children so I spent alot of time gazing at this new little person and soaking in her sweetness, and enjoying some quiet time. Once Seth, Tristan, Rowan and Abby were home the place was anything but quiet! But Marla was also happiest when the place was loud and she was surrounded by her siblings.  She was used to the noise and such from when she was inside me still.  So fascinating and amazing how God creates families.

Opa and Oma came for Marla's baptism and even though it was a short visit we had a super fun time.  One of the benefits of living far from family is that when they come for a visit they come for a couple days or more so we get them all to ourselves for the whole time, which is very special for everyone, especially when there is a new baby to cuddle and love.  The older kids were also thrilled to see Opa and Oma and show them everything as it had been over two years since there had last been here! It was about time. 

Marla Helene Bijlsma

It's been two months already since we welcomed another baby girl into our family!  Time flies when you're having fun!

At 6:35 pm on February 6, 2017 after a quick delivery we were blessed with another beautiful little girl, who we named Marla Helene.  She was born at 41 weeks in Taber hospital so the wait was long but she came teeny tiny, weighing 6lbs 12 oz.  She is healthy
and as sweet as can be, making it easy for us all to love her intensely and adjust to another member in this family. 
I haven't been blogging since I'm too busy soaking in all that newborn preciousness. Even though this is our fifth baby it hasn't gotten old. I think I treasure it more each time actually, as you realize how quickly it's gone.  Oh the sweetness of your very own newborn!  The staring at the tiny little being that grew inside you for 9 months. Finally getting to meet that little bundle of life and to discover who it is! Babies are good for the soul, to see the goodness of God and most amazing work of His hands.

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made"   Psalm 139: 13, 14.