We're heading to Florida!

Ever since Silas was born he's had a clogged tear duct in his right eye. About half the time he wakes up with it matted shut. Then, the rest of the time it's pretty yuck and drippy. He's not all that crazy about us wiping his eye all the time. We've done everything we've been told...warm cloths, massages....but, to no avail. When he was first born we took him for checkups to Dr. Ritrosky in Fort Myers. He said to give it time, these things usually clear up. If not, we'll go see a Pediatric Opthamologist around 9 months. Since we've moved to Canada we've been going to see a family Doctor in Maine about 2 hours from here. We really like Dr. Doyle. She said the same thing as Dr. Ritrosky...time. Then, when it didn't clear up she said she would like for us to go see a doctor in Waterville Maine and he will do the surgery to unclog his tear duct. After calling Dr. Ritrosky and thinking through our options (Waterville, Maine is about 5-6 hours from here, it's a little mountainous, and it's the winter!) we decided it would be much cheaper for me and Silas to fly home to Florida to have the surgery done. So, our consult with Pediatric Opthamologist, Dr. Bourgon is scheduled for Monday, clearance from our Pediatrician on Tuesday, pre-op on Wednesday and surgery on Thursday. But, Praise the Lord!, we think his eye may be better! On Saturday it all of a sudden stopped getting goopy! It looks better than it ever has before! Yay! We're praying that he won't need the surgery after all....just a sunny break in Southwest Florida instead! We will still have our consult with Dr. Bourgon, but please be praying with us that there will be no surgery!

I'm excited to fly with my little guy and I think he has some excited Grandparents wanting to see him! These are the conditions we will be leaving....gorgeous snow, and 5 below! Wonder what it will be like in Florida? Please be praying for us and our appointments (and for me to finish my homework while in FL. Madame Claire gave me a bunch to do!)

Girls Night

I had fun planning a "girls only" night with my girls! They are so special and we enjoy special time together. We started off by giving each other manicures and pedicures. We loved picking out colors together and I found some nail jewels at the dollar store! I lit candles, had a special tea ready, and played soft piano music for a salon effect. We all 3 giggled and had so much fun.
Then, it was time for makeup! I don't let my girls wear makeup. They are way to young. When they are older (not sure on the age yet, probably 14 or 15) we've told them they could begin with a little lipgloss (although here in Canada we're letting them wear plenty of lipbalm that it looks like lipgloss!), then they can slowly move on to other things. I talked to them about when it is time for them to be allowed to wear makeup, that it must look natural and feminine. I told them that for tonight I will put on their makeup much darker than they will wear it. I told them this was more of a "Going out on a date with your husband" look. They loved that!

Beth prefers the pinky brighter colors.

Brenna tried the darker lipstick, but then she took it off right away. She prefers the peachy browns.

I had so much fun with my girls and when they showed themselves to their Daddy he thought they were gorgeous too. They couldn't wait to show their Daddy how they looked! After our salon time, we looked through the new American Girl magazine together while lying in my bed. Thanks, Mom for sending it to us! There are so many neat things in there, the girls are ready to add to their collection! Then, we watched Facing the Giants. I love that movie. It makes me laugh, cry, and cheer all at the same time! Thanks, Girls, I had a great time!

Whew!

Well, as you all know I set my goals for 2010 and one of them was to give my testimony in French. My dear husband misunderstood my goals and thought they were for January! Ugh! He was scheduled to preach for the first time (in French) on Sunday. A couple of days before he so sweetly volunteered for me to give my testimony as well. Thanks, sweetie, you're the best. ;) I wrote out my testimony in English then did my best to translate it into french. Then, I gave it to Madame Claire to make sure it was right. I was very nervous to say the least. I love to give my testimony, but pronouncing things in french was a very nerve wracking thought for me! Madame Claire so graciously prepared me and Patrick to make sure we were ready. She said for the first several times we speak publicly we will just read what we have on the paper. The ab-libbing, outline type of speaking will come soon enough. I was so thankful for my paper! I read my testimony and I think it went pretty well for my first time.

Patrick did fantastic! He preached a message on "How to identify a Cult" I was so proud of my sweetie. He seemed very poised and confident, but he said on the inside he was extremely nervous, too! The children and I also sang "Abide with Me" in french and quoted our memory verse together as a family. It was a good beginning to our speaking French!

We were so thankful Madame Claire came to hear us. She normally attends her church on Sunday mornings, but chose to come hear us for this special occasion. She enjoyed being able to see Silas at church. She held him while Madame Lucie fed him some chocolate cake. He loved it! I asked Madame Claire if she would like a cup of coffee. She said "After I'm done with my joy" (talking about Silas!)

Everyone at church is so encouraging. Madame Sylvie is a sweet encouraging lady that we've enjoyed getting to know. She's one of the english speakers at our church. Although, those days have come to an end. Pastor Roy announced to everyone that we've come to the next stage in our learning french. There will be no more speaking english to us!! Whew! That's what we need, to be forced to speak! We'll see how it goes.

Another blessing is that today in class we started the advanced grammaire book (Niveau avance) Can you believe it!!! Madame Claire said we have so much french in our heads, now it's time to get it to come out on our tongues. That's the hard part. When we speak it feels like we're in slow motion. People have to be very extremely super duper patient to hear what we have to say. And it may be something as simple as "Did you have any cake?" It's helping us to have our class every other Sunday night with the kids. They're very helpful with our french and are teaching us new words. French is going well for us, but we still have a very long ways to go. It's all a process, but it's definitely a long one!

Game and movie night

We've finally resumed our "Family Fun Nights" on Friday nights. We've taken a break from our scheduled family fun nights during the holidays, because it felt like we were doing so many special things that every night became a family fun night! :o) But, now it's back to reality. Only fun on Fridays! :o) We got Skip-Bo for Christmas from a family in our church. I didn't realize our kids didn't know how to play. We've been enjoying some fierce competition!

Then, we took the futon mattress off the futon and put it on the floor, we set up the projector and watched a movie. It was huge! We had a great time!

Isn't it strange!

Robin (my wonderful Aunt!) sent this to me. I thought it was so good, I had to share.

Isn't it strange!!!!!!


Isn't it strange how a 20 dollar bill seems like such a large amount when you donate it to church, but such a small amount when you go shopping?


Isn't it strange how 2 hours seem so long when you're at church, and how short they seem when you're watching a good movie?


Isn't it strange that you can't find a word to say when you're praying but.. you have no trouble thinking what to talk about with a friend?



Isn't it strange how difficult and boring it is to read one chapter of the Bible but how easy it is to read 100 pages of a popular novel?



Isn't it strange how everyone wants front-row-tickets to concerts or games but they do whatever is possible to sit at the last row in Church?




Isn't it strange how we need to know about an event for Church 2-3 weeks before the day so we can include it in our agenda, but we can adjust it for other events in the last minute?




Isn't it strange how difficult it is to learn a fact about God to share it with others;but how easy it is to learn, understand, extend and repeat gossip?



Isn't it strange how we believe everything that magazines and newspapers say but.... we question the words in the Bible?

This is how I'm really treated at home

When the kids were little it was hard to even have a break to use the restroom! I remember I would look forward all day to take a nice hot bubble bath.I would have a magazine ready to read and I would just soak. As soon as dinner would be done, Patrick would watch the children so I could have a few minutes alone. It never failed, they would have an urgent message to give me, a hug I just had to have that moment, or if all else failed, they would stick their little fingers under the door and wave at me. At the time I thought I would never have a break! No one ever told me that once your kids get older, it's the exact opposite. They actually need a little break from the Momma! The other day, I couldn't get out of the bathroom! No matter what I did, the door wouldn't open. Then, I hollered, "Patrick let me out!" He said it wasn't him trapping me in and he took this picture of my sweet Brenna! Can you believe this is actually how I'm treated! Looking back, I should have just filled up the bath again and just relaxed some more! (Although I usually use most or all of the hot water on the first bath!)

Children are a blessing. What seemed to be a slightly frustrating time of trying to have a few minutes of peace, now I look back with sweet memories. My children needed my attention. Now, my older 3 need me in a different way. It's amazing how things can change once your kids start to grow up. They don't necessarily need you to wash their face and brush their teeth. They don't have to have diaper changes and have to have milk before bedtime. But, they still need me, just in a different way. They need me to cook their favorites, remind them to be clean, have a listening ear ready, and they still need to be tucked in. And, just like before, they need my attention. Parenting is definitely the hardest thing I've ever done (and I've still got a long ways to go!) But, it's so neat that the hardest thing is also the most rewarding. I love being a Momma!

Our Mornings

I think we're getting our morning routine down pretty well. We have school Tuesday -Friday, so it's pretty important that on those days we hit the ground running. Remember my goals? Well, they're happening a little more than half the time. That's good, right? :o)

I'm still trying to get up before everyone else and have my personal devotion time and exercise. So far, that's going okay. It didn't happen when Silas chose to be a nightowl one night last week. He finally fell asleep a couple of minutes before midnight. It was like he had coffee that day! But, other than that, getting up early works very well. It feels great to have my quiet time unrushed and distraction free. I'm finding that I actually like to see the sunrise! Dad, you should be proud!

After I finish my time, Patrick is usually in the kitchen drinking his coffee and reading his Bible or praying. It's so sweet because he always has my coffee ready to go, too. (He makes the best coffee...very strong!) (Just like my man!) Then, I wake up the kids. I usually have breakfast ready by the time they have all brushed teeth, washed faces, and have gotten dressed. Usually during breakfast we discuss what will be happening that day, then we all sing "When we see Christ" and pray together. Then, the children are off to do their chores while I clean up Silas and dress him for the day.

We've divided chores into 3...Chore A, Chore B, Chore C. Whatever letter you are for the week tells you which chore you do for the morning and for the evening, too.

Chore A Breakfast dishes, wash dinner dishes and has the front in the van. (It's actually the middle chair in the van next to Silas)
Chore B Clean bathroom, rinse dinner dishes and has one of the backseats
Chore C sweep kitchen and vacuum living room , dry and put away dinner dishes and has one the backseats

After chores it's the children's quiet time, then school time. Our mornings are going smoothly and I'm so thankful for diligent, obedient children.
Until, I saw this yesterday.......
It looks like Mr. Chore C for this week is training a slave, I mean helper! Silas loves the vacuum and was so proud of himself to do some vacuuming....with the encouragement of his brother!

I love watching my boys together!

5 below!

Last week when it was time to leave for school, Patrick looked at the thermometer and it was 5 below 0 (farenheit!) Whew! It was very cold. Silas was already wearing his thermal long sleeved onesie, long johns and his flannel lined overalls. He normally wears a very thick one-piece coat that makes him sort of look like the Michelin Man. It's very thick and fluffy. But, on that morning we decided to pull out his snow suit. The poor little man couldn't even move! When we buckled him up in his carseat we had to loosen the belts a little so he would fit. He didn't cry, but didn't crack a smile the whole way to school. He might not have been thrilled with the snow suit, but he was definitely warm!

My sewing machine cover

After we moved the Christmas tree out of the living room, I moved back in my sewing machine. I find that I'm much more likely to enjoy my hobby if it's set up and ready to go! One problem...a one year old that loves to touch things! Especially things with shiny parts and buttons that Mom likes to touch!! I had been thinking about making a cover for a while to protect my machine from so much dust. But, now that Silas loves to touch it, I thought I had to make one to protect my machine from Silas! So, I found this easy tutorial online:
Craft Blog » Sewing Machine Cover Tutorial
I had never done boxed corners before. My Mom makes them all the time when she makes bags, but it's just one of those things that look a little confusing to me. And it was! I sewed it the first time thinking "Wow! That was easy!" Until I put it right side out and had a pretty diamond shape. Whoops! After thinking it over and a phone call to Mom, I ripped out the stitches and tried again...the right way! It was very easy and now I'm ready to box corner everything! (And cover everything in red toile too! :o)


But, unfortunately, my little man is very smart and figured out that my shiny, button-filled machine is actually under there! Oh well, I had good intentions!

Happy Birthday to My Man!

Yesterday was Patrick's 35th birthday. The children and I had fun planning some fun things for him and what gifts we would be able to buy him. They had the idea of one of his gifts to be a date out with me! How nice! I've noticed that my children love that Patrick and I love being together. (Either that, or they like having a break from us!:o) We planned Patrick's favorite meal. We fed Silas at his normal time and planned to have our dinner right after Silas went to bed. JEB had pizza in the living room and watched some Mr. Ed shows while Patrick and I had a romantic candlelit dinner together. I love being with my Man!

Patrick posted some more specifics about his birthday. I think he really enjoyed his day.

http://www.gimenezfamilylife.blogspot.com
I love you, Babe! Happy Birthday!

Come....Find Rest

For our personal devotion time, our family has been reading in the same place. We're reading through the New Testament Chronologically. While I've been reading, I've also been writing down all the promises that the Bible gives. Wow! It's amazing all the promises God makes to us. I'm looking for personal promises that could say, "If you do....., then I will...." My list is getting long and I'm loving looking at all the promises God has. The even better thing is knowing that God cannot lie, He is so faithful, so I know He keeps His promises!
Today I read in Matthew 11:28
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
The conditional is that we have to Come. How easy is that! God is waiting for us with open arms wanting us to just come! I started thinking this morning about other religions. In order to approach or come to their god, they have to crawl on bloody knees, repeat phrases over and over, be baptised, perfom spiritual rituals, I could go on and on. I started thinking about my God. He says Come, all that labour and are heavy laden. He wants us to come to Him with all of our problems, guilt, and sin. He just wants us to come to Him. And what is His promise if we come to Him? Rest! I think all of us go throughout the day sometimes wishing for rest. Not necessarily physical sleep (although, most of us would love an afternoon to take an unintterupted nap!) but He wants to give our hearts and souls rest. How often throughout the day we are plagued with guilt from our past, guilt from what we should be today, and fear of what tomorrow may bring. Our Heavenly Father wants to give us rest from all of that! It's His promise! All we have to do is...Come!

Having the Bible More Visible

One of my goals for 2010 is to have the Bible more visible in our home. We picked a verse to be our theme verse for this year, Deuteronomy 6:5. I decided that was a good place to start. I've been saving this scrap of toile for about two years now for something "special". I love red and white toile! I decided to use it for this project. I covered a canvas from the dollar store with it, then printed out in a pretty font our verse in English and French. Then, I used Carbon paper to copy it onto the material. After that I just went over the letters to make them darker.

I would love to hear your ideas of making the Bible more visible! I'd like to have a couple more verses up...somewhere....somehow.

My 2 boys

My Joshua is a terrific big brother to my Silas. One thing he has a hard time with is hearing Silas cry. Silas likes to be an early bird. He usually starts showing signs that he's tired at 6:30 or 7. I try to keep him up until at least 7:30, but by then you can tell he wants to go "Night Night" Joshua, Elisabeth, and Brenna's bedtime is at 9. (It actually works out well this way because we have about an hour with our 3 older ones where we can play games together, study, watch a movie or something like that. Then, Patrick and I have an hour or so to just be us two. I like it like that!) Sometimes when JEB goes to bed, Silas wakes up. He will usually watch me tuck in JEB and then cry for about 5 minutes. They have a super hard time watching him cry. They say that Silas stands in his crib and reaches for them. It is pretty heart wrenching! Usually when this happens (this is a habit I am trying to break!) we let him get up with me and Patrick, or he'll lay down with Josh. After he falls asleep we'll put him back in his crib. When I tiptoed in a couple of nights ago to put Silas back in his crib, Josh and Silas were cuddling so cute, that I had to snap their picture. My 2 boys...I just love them so much!

Silas Boone is One Year Old

One year ago today my baby Silas Boone was born. Wow! How he has changed, and how time goes so quickly. I remember there was so much anticipation when he was born to see if he was a boy or a girl. Of course we would have been thrilled if he had been a girl, but we were really hoping for a brother for Joshua. The kids were in the room just outside of the birthing room. When they heard his first cry they were so ready to come in! When Mom told them they could come in, Patrick was so excited to tell them that he was a boy! They loved meeting their new brother. Do you ever wish you could go back and experience something just one more time? Well, that's one of those moments for me. I would love to go back and hear Patrick's proud voice telling them it was a boy. I would love to go back and see Joshua, Elisabeth, and Brenna's faces when they saw their brother for the first time. And I would love to go back and hold my newborn baby one more time. Of course, I know I can never "go back". I'm to cherish today and all the memories we can make today. Thank you Lord for your blessings on me! Our family tradition is to have birthday cake and presents for breakfast when it's your birthday. I convinced JEB that since Silas was turning one he needed to have his cereal first. They weren't all that crazy about that idea (or the idea that they have to do school on his birthday!) but, he ate his cereal, then we let him open his gifts.

Do you notice how many hands are in this picture "helping" him? None of them are mine or Patrick's!

For his birthday cake I made a homemade Banana cake with cream cheese frosting, but I made them into cupcakes instead. We sang "Happy Birthday" to him and he just watched us.

He was pretty excited to have his own cupcake and he kept saying "MMMM" I think he liked the frosting the best.

Silas can't decide if he wants to be right handed or a lefty. He switches back and forth a lot. So, he split the cupcake in half and had a piece in both hands. He also has a little problem with putting too much food in his mouth. We've had a few choking scares and that is no fun at all! Hopefully he'll learn to slow down and enjoy mealtime, but we're still trying to teach that to his brother!

The girls worked on this sign for him for his 1st Birthday. Happy Birthday, Silas! We sure do love you!

Christmas Homework

Yesterday the children started back to school after having a wonderul Christmas break. It was a great relaxing time, but it's also good to be back to the swing of homeschooling. Our semester ends January 15th and we're shooting for the goal of being done with school by May 10th. My Mom is coming for when the baby is born, and then Patrick's Mom and brother are coming to visit in June! Yay! We love company and this will be our first visits from family. So, it will be good to be done with school before then. We'll have to work hard, but it's great to have goals to work towards and see an end in sight. We already are making summer plans! :o) Madame Claire assigned us some homework for during our break. Patrick and I don't go back to school until next Tuesday, so we're still working on doing all of our homework! One of the things we have to do is some reading. We have several books to choose from. We've read some children's books and have had to give oral reports on them. Now, we're up to preteen novels! I love to read, so reading in french is one of my favorite assignments. Madame Claire said not to use our dictionary as we read over Christmas break. She wants us to try and get the main idea and not worry too much about all the little details we don't understand. Well, I couldn't help it. I used my dictionnaire some. I had to find out exactly what the boy thought of his eldest sister and why she was sad! And I had to know why the father was gone so much! (Now, I know he's a truckdriver!) And when they described the food the neighbors were making, you know I had to find out what they were cooking! :o) I loved reading this book "Le royaume de Bruno" I could relate to it very well. The boy loves his neighborhood and has many friends and adventures where he lives, but then one day his family had to move. It's actually pretty sad!
I was so excited when I finished the book to realize, "I read it!!!" Yay! It was an exciting assignment for me!

2010 Here We Come!

On New Year's Eve we had a family "Pow Wow" (family meeting) The day before I gave the kids each a paper with 5 columns at the top. They were to pray about it, fill in goals for the year under each column, and be ready to discuss the next day.
The five columns were: Spiritual, Physical, Family, Fun, and Other.
It was a great time discussing the upcoming year and realizing that next year at this time we could be in St. Barthelemy or getting very near getting there! How exciting!
Of course, my list was the longest. I tend to be a little Obsessive, Compulsive when it comes to lists. I remember my friend Tammy looking at one of my lists one time and ask me "What is 'la la la' ?" I couldn't believe she didn't know that means 3 loads of laundry! :o)
One thing I love about blogging is that it makes me accountable with all of my goals that I set. So, I thought I'd share a few for this year!
Spiritual
~Have my quiet time alone with the Lord before the children wake up. (Praise the Lord, Silas just started sleeping until 7!)
~Memorize a verse in English and French (as a family) every month. (I want to make some sort of holder, or a special place we will put this verse so we can say it together before each meal)
~Sing one special a month in church as a family in French.
~Have a theme ready for our Bible ready each month. (As we read through the Bible we love to look for certain topics and share them with each other. For this month as we read, we're looking for all the promises that God gives us. I love reading in the same place as the rest of my family so we can talk about it and discuss it)
~Patrick has a goal of doing like the book of Deuteronomy says and having the Bible more in our home. I'd like to help him with that by having more verses and scripture visible in our home. I have a few crafty ideas, we'll see if they turn out.

Physical (Do I dare share these?)
~Before 12/31/10 I'd like to be back down to 140. (I never thought I would say back down and 140 to be after it, but I'm trying not to set my goals to high and be disappointed. I'm trying to remember this isn't a wish list, but goals......trying, trying, trying) (Lower would be better:o)
The baby is due May 19th, so that will give me time to try to get to my pre-(this baby) pregnancy weight. I would love love love to be at my pre-Elisabeth baby weight!
~To exercise at least 5 days a week. Really exercise! I've always wanted to be a runner. I know that sounds so silly, you're probably thinking, "Then go out and run!" But, you don't understand, I hate to run! Pretty confusing, I know. So, I would just like to aim to be active everyday...exercise bike, walk, play in the snow, etc.
~Drink at least 6 glasses of water a day.

Family
~To make Patrick the happiest man on earth! Meet his daily needs and to be a true, encouraging help meet for him!
~Plan individual time with each of my children on a regular basis. Do you ever feel like you're with your kids all the time, but not really together? I want to have special memories with them individually.
~Be more creative in my praises of my family (Leave more notes...they love those!, make their favorites to show them I'm proud of them, does anyone have any other ideas?)

Fun
~Have JEBS personal albums caught up by April 15th.
~Have all 5 kids albums caught up by the time we move from Canada
~Make a baby boy quilt (We usually don't find out the sex of our babies before they are born, so for Silas I made a girl quilt and a boy quilt. I still have the girl one, in case we're having a girl, but I want to have a boy one ready too!)
~Learn how to do "Free Quilting" with a darning foot (Mom, you beat me to it!)
~Finish my "Quilt Block of the Month" quilt
~Finish my "Gimenez Family Cookbook" online. (That's one of the gifts my parents bought me for Christmas is for me to make my own cookbook online. I'm so excited and we've had fun picking out our absolute favorites!)
~Go to a walk to Old Quebec (we have a trail by our house that leads all the way to Old Quebec. I'd like to do that before we leave) (I noticed this was on all three kids lists too!)
~Ride the rollercoaster in the mall by our house. (Of course, after the baby is born!)

Other
~Focus on French everyday!
~Give my testimony in French (remember this is a goal for 2010, not for January!)
~Have our ACE school done by May 10th. (Don't you think it would be great to have school done before the baby comes!)

So, there you go....my goals. I love this time of year! Ask me in 6 months how it's going...Hopefully I'll say "Wow! I'm accomplishing so much this year!"