She's Really Gone

It has taken me a week but today I finally feel I can write about Moly. I had to change the intro to the blog and everything since it had her included in the description.
Molybdenum ( which is an element on the periodic table) came to Shawn and I in 1999 when we moved into our first home. She was our first "baby".
Last Friday night we took Moly to live in her new home with a wonderful lady named Marion. It was a very sad day for us. We did not feel comfortable taking Moly overseas and making her have to go through quarantine and our flat which we have since acquired does not allow for pets anyhow.
I have been trying to "be strong for the children" but I really do miss her. It seems so strange to me to not have a pet. I have always had a dog!! Anyhow, I may have to convince Shawn to get the children a goldfish or something once we arrive in Scotland.
So here are a few pictures of our "baby" Moly....


This is Moly eating her "last supper" at our home before we left to take her to her new home.
This is just a photo we took a few weeks ago of Moly after a hard day of work on the computer.
And finally, here she is with Alexander and Benjamin on that fateful, rainy night last Friday...
I know, I know, it's just a dog and I have four children to keep me busy but I do miss her!
And so do they. As we drove away from her new home, Alexander started to cry and say, "I want to pat Moly one more time". It was SOO sad. And a few times this past week, Jacob has gone to the front window which looked out over her fenced in area and said, "Molny...Molny". I had to hide tears the frist time he did that!


Anyhow, I know most of you are probably saying "Enough already with the dog!". So I will end here.

PAINTING

Tonight after supper we decided to do a little painting. It was quite an adventure! Usually I keep Hannah and Jacob away from the paint and Alexander and Benjamin have all the fun. However, tonight I said, 'why not? Let's all paint!!"
I soon discovered "why not".....Actually we all had alot of fun and I got some great blogging and scrapbooking pictures; cause after all, isn't that what it's all about?
So here are a few pictures of our painting adventure:
Warning, this may cause lightheadedness and shock to those who don't have children and especially to those who may be expecting children...


First off we have Hannah showing off her masterpiece.... By the way, I had the wonderful foresight to take off everyone's shirts prior to painting (except Jacob, his shirt was old anyhow!)

Here is the beginning of things, I put down some newspaper to protect the table. And the paint is children's "washable" finger paints.
Jacob mostly painted on his hands, he was very precise with his painting. He will be writing in no time. He loves to read books and color and he holds the pencil correctly to draw shapes and attempts letters.
So once we had enough of the painting, I took Jacob up to the bathtub; carrying him at arm's length! Grammy White was up there helping him get in the bathtub. Then I come back downstairs to take Hannah up and this is what I find in the dining room......




Yes, I had to leave them all there to get the camera, as I said, it's all about the blogging and scrapbooking! Does it make me a bad mother that I may have endangered the life of my little girl by leaving her on the table so I could get a good picture?

Miss Hannah

I can remember when I was pregnant for the second time and we found out it was a boy and a girl. So many people said to me that they were glad I would "get my girl". I originally didn't think that having a girl was a big deal since I quite enjoyed the boys and would have no problem with two more boys.....Now Hannah and Jacob are 20 months old and I am SO glad "I got my girl"!! I love having a girl! Even when she throws a little hissy fit and I say again and again, "Hannah, you're such a girl"! Hannah knows she is different from her brothers but she can also wrestle right along with them.It really is remarkable how different boys and girls are I just want to say that I am so thankful that God made us different. It really is a joy to be a mom!!
So this post is dedicated to "my girl".

Miscellaneous Craziness

Here are a few recent pictures which I like to call "Miscellaneous craziness".
We have a great time in our backyard and are so blessed to have found this house to rent while here in Nova Scotia. We are able to have lots of friends over to play and a place for all the toys. Here are a few pictures I have taken over the last week or so:
Alexander (I know he is wearing blue, sorry!) making his crazy face! He is drenched from the sprinkler.
Not to be outdone, here is Benjamin's crazy face!
And here are Hannah and Alexander with their funny pose. Sorry for the sideways photo!
And our sprinkler fun from Sunday afternoon:
Jacob isn't much of a water guy but the other three have a great time in the pool and in the sprinkler. This was after church on Sunday and we didn't even bother with bathing suits, the boys just put on shorts and jumped right in. As you can see, Hannah is still in her dress. Here they are trying to get a drink out of the sprinkler.

Vacation Bible School

Last week, Benjamin and Alexander took part in Vacation Bible School at our church. They had a blast! They were extremely tired every night but would talk excitedly about their day and every morning would ask, "do we go to vacation bible school this day?". Their friends Mark and Michael (4 year old twins who live close by) as well as other friends from their Sunday School class were also in attendance.
So last Sunday they had a closing during the church service and they did such a good job singing their songs and doing the actions. I was SO proud! I don't really consider myself the emotional type but I must admit I had a tear or two in my eye as I watched them up there praising God.
The music was great with this VBS and we have a CD of the music which we listen to daily. They continue to do the actions and sing along to the CD. Hannah and Jacob are even pitching in with the actions now. Again, I am SO proud!
The pictures aren't the greatest but here they are:

This was their class's song "Before the beginning" (great lyrics!!)
Here's a taste: "Before the beginning, before there was time, before He made the earth, and before He made the sky, before He made the mountains, before He made the seas, God loved you and me" What a great message!!
And they continue to go around the house singing it. Jacob and Hannah sing along to when it gets to the words "you and me".

And this is the pre-service "warm-up" downstairs on Sunday morning. They are to the back with the red and blue striped shirts.

Update

Just a few little updates....
Benjamin has fully recovered from his breakdown a couple nights ago as he looked at his foot today and exclaimed, "I have new skin!"
Another update....
We will be taking Moly to her new home on Friday after supper. It will be a sad day for us but we think she will have a good home.
And one more update....
We sent in our lease for our flat in Edinburgh yesterday and we officially take "ownership/rentership" on July 19th!!
God is good!!!

Benjamin is comfortable in his skin....

Benjamin is comfortable in his skin...maybe a little too comfortable!
I just have to share this little story that Shawn told me about bedtime tonight. Benjamin had a mini meltdown and Shawn just related the reason why:
Benjamin was on the couch before bed and was looking at his feet and he realized he had a little blister on the bottom of his big toe. It was an old blister and now the skin was starting to peel off. He started to get upset about this problem on this toe. Shawn was trying to explain to Benjamin that there are 7 layers of your skin and sometimes your body gets rid of the older layers so the newer layers can form and protect your body. He said "You know how Mom and Dad give you a bath every night? Well this is like your body giving itself a bath to get rid of the old dirty skin" (We have told the boys that scabs over their booboos are "body bandaids" so this is similar). So if you can imagine this poor boy sitting on the couch, for 10 minutes sobbing about how he doesn't want this to happen. He said "I want my old skin back, I want my old skin back!" as he sobbed and cried. Shawn had to carry him up to bed because he wouldn't put his foot down. He balanced on one foot as he brushed his teeth and used the bathroom, all while sobbing. As Shawn put him in bed, he made one last cry of "I want my old skin back, I want my old skin back!"
Yes, he is comfortable in his skin!

Hannah and the Zoo

I was recently scolded for saying I was addicted and then being neglectful for almost a week! I can't believe it has been almost a week but I have been working alot this week....I know, I know, no excuses for addicts!
Anyhow, I thought I had better post something so I will choose Hannah to embarass this time.
Sorry, I forgot to rotate this one around and now I am not sure how to fix it and I am posting from work. So....Here is Hannah trying on Alexander's shorts. She often tries to dress herself but hasn't quite figured out that not EVERYTHING goes on your head.
















Since I didn't feel I embarassed her enough with that last photo, here is a nice closeup which I will have to save for her wedding.
















Also, the other day {Shawn always teases me for saying "the other day" when it was last month or even last year! This really was just last week} we went to the zoo and had a great day. I have the pictures scrapbooked already. I had picked up some stickers a couple months ago {see Shawn, I remember it has been awhile, not just "the other day"} and have been dying to go to the zoo so I could scrapbook using the great stickers. So off we trecked to the zoo and it was alot of fun. We hadn't been since last fall and it was great to have Hannah and Jacob walking on their own and exploring (Benjamin and Alexander have been walking on their own for awhile now! Hee Hee). They enjoyed all the animals. So did I but I just have to note that we saw the biggest pigs I have ever seen in my life (not that I have seen alot of pigs or anything!). They are called yorkshire pigs and they are gigantic!! Of course, having said this, I don't have a picture of them; man, we've gotta go back to the zoo!
Anyhow, the first thing they wanted to see was the bear named "Smokey". So here are the crew lined up outside Smokey's cage.
















And finally {boy this has been a long post; maybe I am still addicted}, here is the cutest little raccoon. He looked so interested in us and we had a great time watching him dig around in his cage.

I ADMIT IT...

Hi, My name is Bev and I am addicted to Blogging!
Just wanted you all to know that I have now accepted that which you have probably all known for some time now....I am addicted.
I am just so fascinated that I can keep this photo journal and that it is so easy to do. Now whenver my family calls, I just say, check out the blog, that is what we have been doing. {I do actually talk to them as well}
I am getting very close to saying that blogging may, in fact, be even better than scrapbooking! It is just so easy to do!
So if you are reading this and haven't tried it yet....come on....everybody's doing it!

Beach Time!!!

Today we all went to the beach with the Zacharias family. We had a great time. Jacob is not really fond of the water but had fun in the sand. Hannah was hilarious as she splashed around in the water. She would walk right out, plunk down with practically her whole body going under the water and laugh and slap her hands in the water. She was very entertaining.
Alexander and Benjamin kept imploring me to take then to the "deeper, deepest part" and then let them swim back in; they were not allowed to wear water wings so we just waded and splashed for a bit and then put on life jackets to go out the the "deeper, deepest part". They had a great time. It was a beautiful day with my beautiful family and our beautiful friends!

Here is our little fish...I mean girl!

Not a great picture but the best I could snap with the sun beating down and the boys beating ME down to take them out swimming!
And our land lover Jacob! He's going to be a scholar not a fisherman!

Let's Play Ball!!

I had a special treat of being sent home early from work yesterday (I wasn't fired or anything! It was just a slow day), so as Shawn had already booked the day off to look after the family, we all went down to the ball field to play some baseball.
This first picture is of Benjamin at the bat.....Alexander is the catcher of course! Benjamin runs so fast around the bases when he hits. He is quite speedy! He is also quite good at the bat.


Then comes our first base player Hannah getting ready to get someone out!

Jacob gets ready for the pitch in this picture...

And here is a nice action photo of Alexander getting a big hit; note the ball just at Shawn's hand?

Alexander has just hit that! He is a pretty good batter.
Finally, I just had to take this picture of Shawn, Benjamin, and Jacob after the game having a little celebratory huddle. It was a great family afternoon. We are so blessed!

The other three....

I have crazy boys!! Even though it has been extremely hot and muggy here these last few days, Alexander and Benjamin still insist on getting fully dressed for hockey. They put on their longjohns, shorts, hockey jerseys, helmets, and gloves.....cause you can't play real hockey without real gear!
Here is a little photo of them showing off their sweaty hairdos after taking their hockey helmets off. Take note of their favorite tshirts of late that Dad brought home from Greece.




And here is our little girl Hannah on her bike. She isn't very well coordinated this day as she shows off her pink hat, red shirt, and yellow pants and sandals (not her fault...mine!); however, she does go quite nicely with her bike! Hannah really is quite different from her brothers although she can get right in there and tackle and body slam like the best of 'em! She is still helping me around the house, delivering snacks and getting clothes for everyone.

We really are so blessed with these 4 wonderful children! It is alot of work sometimes but it is also so much fun.

Double the trouble...but twice as nice!!! Two times over.

Alone...in this house???

Sunday mornings are always kind of hectic here as we all try to get ready for Sunday school and church. However, now that summer has come, Sunday school is over and we have a more relaxing morning since we don't have to leave the house until around 1030am. This morning
I caught a glimpse of Jacob and had to take this photo. Hannah was upstairs with me getting everyone's clothes for church, Alexander and Benjamin were upstairs in the washroom, Shawn was upstairs getting dressed and Mom White was in the kitchen clearing the breakfast dishes. So here is poor little Jacob looking like an only child sitting in front of Dragon Tales....He was probably loving it; there aren't many moments like that around here!