Magnum’s First Day At School

Mag’s first day of school was last night. It was no surprise that he was the tallest student….and heaviest student…and the class bully(as he sorta flipped his lid at a younger student when he walked by). Oops.

Magnum is not mannered with visitors and chickens…oh, and that one rabbit(rip), hence the enrollment into school. His teacher assures us he will be transformed with a little hard work and effort. He went as far as to say, on command, Magnum will stand, like an angel, and let strangers pet him and love on him…..hmmm….I wonder who that first *stranger* will be? After a three hour class, Mag has three three minute lessons a day as homework for the next week. I am already seeing great progress this morning!

This afternoon the children will start taking turns working him and we even hope to have Gracie controlling this 110lb dog by next Tuesday. If you know Gracie personally, you know there is a pretty good chance she can accomplish this! (We think she is a leader personality) 

Mag will be taking the 8 wk Basic Obedience Course from Cedarwood Canine School and hopefully we will take the Off –Leash Course in the next year. Magnum has the potential of being a great family dog, but controlling this beast is now our number one priority.

I am still haunted by our close encounter with the luring this summer.

He is intensively tuned into our children, playing a sheepdog roll, watching their every move from a distance and there in a heartbeat if they call. He has even pulled one of the children down, gently, from climbing up an unstable woodpile. Then there are the times the children will hold Mag, then have another child run and hide under a blanket or in a cabinet somewhere far off. When he is released and told to “Find ___” he will quickly and efficiently find that child and pull the blanket off, it is so fun to watch him with the kids. 

A J’s Christmas 2011

Christmas in 14 pictures.

 

Emma and her beading set. I have already acquired three handmade earring sets! I do have selfish reasons for buying her beads ;)

 

Gracie and her Imaginets. She has wanted these for months!

 

Elijah shooting Daddy’s feet.  Elijah(who still can not talk) would look at Daddy, put his gun down, throw his hands in the air then quickly pick up his gun again to communicate he wanted Daddy to put his hands up. Once Daddy surrendered to him, he’d shoot him.

 

Gotta love boys in the woodshop. Danny made this pistol for Micah complete with .22 casings put in the holes he drilled.

   

My hunter ;)

 

Meet Rexford. Rexford joined our family this Christmas and let me tell you, he was another great purchase. We have had to set the timer more than once for turn taking. Even I could sit upon him, if I cared to, and no, I have not, fyi. But it is sure nice to know that if my 115lb son wants to take him for a spin, I can rest easy. He is cute, bouncy and a real healthy boy energy burner.

 

Lillie, the one eyed dog, blissfully slept through all the hoo-ha.

  

 

 

 

Gracie finally got matching PJ’s for her and Bitty Baby thank you to Grandma and her good ole sewing machine.

  

 

Danny and his heli

 

Elijah plum tuckered out.

    

And Gracie with her brand new doll crib that big brother built for her.

It was another blessed Christmas with family celebrating Christ’s birth. Glad the tree is down, the sugar’s gone, the pressure’s off and it’s time to settle into the new year. Looking forward to this weekend’s traditional event celebrating with our dear church friends at Hope Family Fellowship(in Lynden) for the New Year’s hymn sing!

The best part of waking up…

…Is Mozart in your cup. <sigh>

Thanks to the whoever it was that tried to sweeten my coffee this morning…it worked.

Lyddibugs On The Move

Lyddibugs On The Move from Jarski on Vimeo.

 

My baby is mobile!

 

Emma found everyone’s shoes and Micah shined them for church. I love the line up,

so sweet to have all those feet ;)

Ollie Bollen

Doris Jean’s Donuts!

Every year we try to go into town and celebrate a little Dutch heritage by enjoying some ollie bollen. And no, Dee, they do not even come close to yours!  

  

Elijah Wilhem is named after his five of his forefathers that date back to 1560 something. All of them named Wilhem(Vil-um).

Jessica was at a party, so a part of us was missing, but we(they) still downed 1.5 dozen ollie bollen nonetheless.

 

Grace looOOooved her oly-bawlin, but Micah was disappointed we didn’t end up at the bowling alley as he had thought.

Friday night celebration

What better way to celebrate than a surprise pajama ride? Paul has been very ill for 5 days. He even missed three days of work! In a nutshell, he has a salivary gland that produces stones maybe once every two years, much like kidney stones, and they have to pass from a gland near his neck out through a duct under his tongue.

For five days he has had this duct plugged by a suspected stone. Swelling, pain, unable to eat and drink thus unable to take meds…it has been difficult waiting it out, to say the least. Well, this morning the stone had arrived to the surface and he pulled it out. Much pain. But it is out and now the infection can drain. He is talking tonight and eating! Praise the Lord it is over and he is on the mend. Thank you for those of you who were praying and checking up on him. So to celebrate Daddy being better, he took the children all on a pajama ride. 4 caramel, 2 strawberry and 1 chocolate sundae, please. 

Now, I’m off to bed after last night’s slumber party, I am looking forward to my own bed ;)

Slumber party!

Wow, what a night! A craft with glitter, a big tent, sleeping bags, Sergeant York(the movie), popcorn, giggles. It started with all five of us ladies, but we made a rule that if you urped milk on the carpet you had to go to bed. Unfortunately, Lydia didn’t last 20 minutes.

 

We started at 8:30pm with this snowflake craft I found in Family Fun magazine. Q-tips, Tacky Glue and sparkles. Try it! You glue the intersections together, sprinkle sprinkles, flip when dry and do the other side the same. These should last for many years if packed away carefully. LOVE it!

Aren’t they pretty? We are going to hang ours from the ceiling around our Christmas tree.

We built a large tent and all piled in, even the dog ;)  Watched most of Sergeant York and ate popcorn. You mammas would be proud, twice I got up to nurse the baby and every square inch of my body hurt from sleeping on that floor and I resisted the temptation to crawl in my bed.

I was surprised at how much my daughters loved this. I really need to do this more, it was so much fun to have a slumber party again!