Emmersen is a Young Lady of Seven

 Hard to believe our little Emme is growing up so fast. Whenever I look at pictures of her I can't get over how grown up she looks! It seems she went from a cute little toddler to a little beauty so fast! She is our wild card that always keeps us on our toes, although, far less then she did as a toddler. She seems to have matured so much in the last few years, and has manged to figure out some emotional control. She still makes us shake our heads sometimes in wonder, at how most of the time she can be good as gold, and yet, some days for what ever reason she's gotten up on the wrong side of the bed and the world is upside down! She definitely makes life in our house colourful! 

She has such a sweet and sensitive little heart. She feels deeply and loves fully. I can learn so much from her. I watch how graciously she forgives a wrong, how quickly she lets go of the past, and how fully she moves on. There is no grudge, no hesitation, it's as if she chooses to forget the offense ever occurred. She gives to others whenever she can, and loves to help. She will be the first to offer to help and (most of the time) hops up and does whatever chore I ask without complaint. Often this means she gets asked to unload the dishwasher or straighten the boot room more then any of our other children, not really fair I know, but sometimes, as an exhausted and overwhelmed mom, I must admit the path of least resistance really is the one I need to take. She doesn't complain, or really even seem to notice that she gets asked more, it's that servant heart she gets from her father. I have never met a person who serves so willingly, behind the scenes, often without a thank you or acknowledgement, in-spite of how tired and overworked he is. I am blessed by his willingness to serve, and so are those who know him, and I am so thankful and appreciative that this trait is developing in our little Emme.I know she will be a blessing to so many as she grows up, just like her daddy!

Of all our kids Emme can be a tricky one to understand. The fact that she feels things so deeply and becomes so passionate about whatever she's trying to do means that she doesn't always respond appropriately, or the way that we feel she should. Yet, she's not always in the wrong either, and sometimes it's our misunderstanding that causes more of a problem then her actual actions, or our embarrassment when she doesn't act the way we think she should. Sometimes we want her to respond in a certain way, or we don't give her enough warning about the situation, and therefore we react poorly to her behaviour. Lucky for me, as I mentioned above, she is quick to forgive, and I have had to say many sorrys to this beautiful little girl because I have overreacted or my response was based on what others think, rather then what's best for her. She is also very impulsive, there isn't always a lot of forethought prior to action, which gets her into trouble. She is very playful and sometimes takes a joke or a game a little too far. This again can come from her impulsive nature as well as her love of fun. However, often this gets her into trouble, even though she's rarely intending to misbehave or break rules, she just didn't think about the consequences. For me this has been one of my biggest challenges parenting Emme. Learning to slow down and not react, to asses the situation first, to really look at each circumstance and figure out how to discipline rationally, how to give logical consequences, and how to best redirect her so that in the future she makes a better decision without being unnecessarily harsh. I have definitely failed at this numerous times! As tricky as this has been for me though, I have a feeling she just might be my easiest teenager, lol. Once a rule is locked in she rarely breaks it, she is terrible at being sneaky, her guilty heart gives it away right away, lol, you can just read it all over her face, and like I said, she doesn't hold a grudge well. So fingers crossed those things carry forward into the teen years!

I have loved homeschooling her! I have gotten to know her so well these last couple of years, and I love how she has surprised me! I had thought I would find homeschooling her difficult, as she is so opposite to me, and yet she has been so easy. She is a very quick learner, she is an amazing reader and has a great math brain. I really didn't think she would find school so easy. She was always moving and seemed to have a short attention span when she was young, but when you get her focused she locks in and flies right through her work. On the flip side, if for whatever reason she's off that day, it's like pulling teeth and she all of a sudden can't seem to add numbers she's had memorized for weeks and her grammar lessons take hours. Some things I have learned about her needs, that challenge my nature are: routine, her style of organization, and forewarning about any changes or expectations for the day. When I through off the routine or bring in an unexpected rule, the day never goes as smoothly. She is either incredibly tidy and organized or it looks like a bomb went off and her things are everywhere and she can't find her books or has misplaced some piece of treasured junk in her bed. She needs time to order her life, her way. So the key with Emme is setting boundaries, outlining expectations, and then following through on those things. This is not my strong suit. I know if I organized myself enough to have set rules and behaviours, along with consequences for breaking these Emme would respond incredibly well, however, I am terrible at this type of thing. I don't like having things planned out for me. I am comfortable when plans change, and if last minute someone comes by or I want to zip out for a coffee date or a quick shop I am perfectly happy to adapt. I get grumpy when I feel I am stuck in too much of a routine, therefore we are muddling through as best we can, and hopefully the best traits from the both of us can rub off on one another!

All of my kids' birthdays land at terrible times when it comes to my job. They always seem to be around report cards, staff training, or just chaotic times. This year Emme's came at a particularly bad time. I was trying to finish off fall paperwork, start report cards, and of course get organized for Christmas. I talked to Emme and told her that I was just so busy and tired that I didn't have time to plan a big party or to host a family party this year. I asked her if instead we could just go to the movies with two friends and then on a different day our family would go out and use her birthday dinner at Red Robin's to celebrate. She was pretty excited to go to the movies with friends so that was an easy decision for her, which was awesome! I could tell she was a little disappointed not to have the family out but she said it was okay anyways, and I exhaled a sigh of relief! 

And so...we celebrated, starting with her requested birthday menu:

Breakfast: Swedish Pancakes with whipped cream, peaches, and maple syrup 

Lunch: Apple Cinnamon Cheerios

Supper: Homemade Pizza

Happy Birthday Beautiful!!!

About to get her ears pierced! She was so brave, they were crazy busy in there and so she had the choice to wait or get them done one at a time. She got a little glassy eyed with a big jump, but no tears without numbing cream!

She was pretty proud of her new earings!

We went out for hot chocolate and dessert to celebrate after getting her ears done. The Cliffs gives you a free birthday dessert, but you have to wear the goofy cake hat! She was a little unsure at first, but she warmed up to the idea after awhile.

After visiting Santa's Workshop to Christmas shop, Cheyanne purchased Emme a giant panda for her birthday as well. She was pretty excited, I wasn't, lol. One more giant stuffie, awesome, haha.

Birthday celebrations at Red Robin's!

Emme and her friends Ella and Kadence. They had to sit in front of us so they could feel like they were all grown up, lol. They were too cute, and everyone loved the movie! We saw Frozen, it was pretty cute!

Celebrating with McDonald's ice cream for dessert.

She was pretty excited to get both Elsa and Anna from the movie!

Our birthday interview, thanks to Ladybugs n' Latte's for the idea!

Favourite Colour:?Pink

Favourite Food? Ice Cream

Favourite Show? Frozen

Favourite Book? Cinderella

Favourite Toy? Taryn

Favourite Song? We are never getting back together ~ Taylor Swift

What do you want to be when you grow up? Hair designer

What are you good at? playing piano

What are you excited about? Easter

What are your favourite memories from being six? go swimming, playing tricks on "happy fools day", making presents for daddy's birthday, getting babysat, going to Aunty Betty-Lou's, going camping, watching movies.

What is your favourite memory verse this year? In your anger do not sin, when you are on your beds search your heart and be silent Psalms 4:4

What is one thing you would like to say to the whole world if you had the chance? That God Loves You! You should not sin. and...Snow is GREAT!

Buy Local. Eat Natural. Let's Support BC's Buy Local Week.

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Buy Local. Eat Natural. It’s become the new slogan for agriculture in BC. One of the biggest issues farmers across Canada, and especially in BC are facing is cross border shopping. The amount of loss BC’s economy faces each year to cross border shopping is astounding, and the dairy industry in particular, is really feeling the effects. I know many reading this will say how we should lower our prices and there are all kinds of complicated answers that I can give as to why that’s not as viable as most consumers believe, however that isn’t the point of this post. So, just to touch on a few of the reasons for the price disparity: we have higher standards and higher quality, cost of production is lower in the US due to longer growing seasons and warmer climates, the US government subsidizes dairy farms heavily (therefore, American milk is only cheap for Canadians, Americans pay for it on their taxes), and finally, the price is artificially low in the border towns to draw Canadians in, other areas of the US pay a lot closer to our prices.

Now, after the little sermon on the evils of cross border shopping, haha, I want to get to the point of my post. Fair warning, I may be on my soap box just a little ;). After understanding the cost of cross border shopping, and feeling some of its effects personally, I began to think about the slogan “Buy Local. Eat Natural.” Living where we do I am not guilty of cross border shopping, I am, however, guilty of cross community shopping. It’s BC's buy local week, and as I was thinking about how we as an industry have been affected by cross border shopping I began to feel convicted about my “cross-community” shopping. I don’t mean the heading to Askew’s in Armstrong, or other locally owned small businesses in neighbouring communities, I more mean the pack up the kids and head to Superstore or Wal-Mart and more recently, Target for all my needs.

Let me preface this with a clear disclaimer, I understand that there are some things that are simply to expensive to be purchased locally (ie diapers, etc.). For all of us, we have a different evaluation of what is too expensive, and what is just out of the budget to buy local. I also understand that sometimes it’s just fun to pack up the family for a day of shopping in the big city of Vernon (haha) or better yet Kelowna! I personally love checking out Costco, and the mall and some of the other shops those cities have that we don’t. I understand that we are not all going to be able to shop local all of the time, for many of us our budget just won’t allow us. I am not talking about those situations and instances. What I am talking about is simply not being aware, or thinking before we buy. Often we drive to Vernon to save a few dollars on a few items, often this doesn’t even add up to a twenty-dollar savings on our bill. Many times prices of things we buy in big box stores are only marginally more expensive in Enderby. I think so often we have become accustomed to shopping out of town that we forget to even check in our town to see if they have the item, we just blindly head to Wal-Mart. And, not to get into the ethics of big business too much, but seriously, they and other stores like them have a pretty bad track record when it comes to human rights and unethical outsourcing of labour.

I don’t want to get into that rabbit trail too much, but I do want to have everyone realize how much money those stores get from us and how little is returned. When you shop local that money comes back into our community, when you shop in big box stores it goes to the pockets of big time CEOs. In our community we have amazing businesses that have a heart for our community. All of you are benefiting from these businesses and most of us aren’t grateful enough to shop at them as a thank you. If you have kids in soccer or baseball it’s local businesses that pay for your kids’ jerseys. Other ways businesses contribute are through things like grad, dry grad, field trips, hockey fundraisers, Kids and Company snacks, and a host of other community programs. I know that Sutherland’s Bakery donates lunches to the school for the kids whose parents aren’t able to bring a lunch. The more I learn about our local businesses the more I am amazed at how many programs are supported by these businesses, and I am even more amazed that they are still willing to volunteer money and time to our programs. In our economy it is really hard to be a viable small business, and I believe that each of us can help our businesses out by thinking about ways to shop local. I know that it is my generation that is the guiltiest of cross community shopping. We seem to be insatiable bargain hunters and we are also a “what’s best for me” generation, unlike our grandparents were. Most of us have never even stopped to consider what it means to shop local, we have grown up shopping in big box stores. I want to encourage us to start thinking of ways that we can contribute to our local economy by finding ways that work for us and our budget to shop local. Even small changes in our purchasing habits can make a big difference to those businesses.

In closing, to slightly step off my soap box, I understand that most of us live on a tight budget and that sometimes price has to matter above all things, but if we can, when we can, support our local businesses, they in turn will support us by continuing to donate to the programs we all enjoy. Are you printing Wedding invitations or thank you cards? Consider Pure Graphics (you will get amazing customer service!), need a wind shield replaced? Enderby Autobody, need a party catered? How about the Cliff’s Bistro, or Lynn’s Homestyle Catering? Going out to eat? What about Hungry Jacks or Mel's Mainstreet Pizza instead of McDonald’s? Need to buy toys for your grandkids? Consider I Sher Toys, or jewlerry for your wife? Look at Enderby Jewellers, looking for new boots or a brand name pair of jeans? Try Tony O’s, need to bring baking to a party? Sutherland’s glazed donuts are the best! Way better then Tim Horton’s, and they are made fresh every morning and competitively priced! (I know there are so many more wonderful businesses to check out in Enderby, if I missed one  and you want it mentioned, feel free to post it in the comments). If something isn’t available locally consider shopping at smaller locally owned stores in neighbouring communities, such as Askew’s in Armstrong, or Sleepy Hollow or BlueMountain nurseries instead of Superstore’s garden center (your flowers will be healthier and last longer anyways).  Whenever possible, look to shop local, then look to neighbouring communities for locally owned businesses, still can’t find what you need? How about supporting a stay at home Mom or other small business on etsy such as: Hello Love. And then, if you must go out of town further, consider looking for that which is made in Canada. Sometimes a bargain isn’t a bargain when we look at the story behind its production. 

A lot of the time it just takes a bit of thinking and awareness to shop local, it doesn’t have to be more expensive. Every dollar you spend in Enderby stays in Enderby. Not only does it support your neighbours, your friends, and their families, who own the businesses, it also supports your kids in their programs and boosts our community spirit. Without local businesses most of our community programs would suffer and our community events, such as the light up or Canada day would be far less colourful!

Buy Local. Eat Natural.

I know that I didn’t touch on the Eat Natural portion of the slogan, but that’s for another post and another soap box, haha.

Stepping off my soap box now!

 

This is a graphic I found illustrating how choosing local supports your community: 

source: http://locobc.com/buylocal/buy-local-week-2013/loco-infographic-131115-d6/

Halloween

This year Halloween was a bit chaotic for us. I was waiting for our family to get sick, as Bella had been sick a few days before and it hadn't hit the rest of the kids yet. As of the day before Halloween I had no idea what anyone would dress up as. A friend dropped off a queen costume for Cheyanne and so we had one kid planned for sure and Mason intended to be a fat cow. Come Halloween morning when we brought costumes up from the crawl space it turned out that we couldn't find the cow and none of our other costumes would fit or suit anyone else. So it was time to get creative! 

First it was Bella, she decided for some strange reason she wanted to be a funny snail. I browsed online and found someone had used nylons and material to create a shell, so we went from there. Using a pair of tights from my closet, our spare sheets and a hot glue gun I was able to create her shell. From that we found clothes in her closet, a head band, pipe cleaners, and of course a little bit of lip gloss completed the ensemble.

Next came Emmeresen. Her struggle was she couldn't decide what she wanted to be. It was like there were too many options running through her brain and she just couldn't commit to any of them. Luckily, I found a white dress stashed away that had been passed down to us and was still too big for any of the girls. With that it was decided she would be a bride. We used pins to make the dress fit, an old dress up tutu/skirt for a veil, fake flowers from our wedding decorations and a little bit of make up to complete her look. She was all about the mature elegant pose and expressions when we took her pictures. She has obviously looked at a few fashionable brides who don't smile. lol. 

And finally it was Mason. He has a pair of ugly camo pants that he likes to wear and I think are tacky but they worked perfectly for him to become one of the famous bible loving characters from the crazy show Duck Dynasty. I found an old orange and black wig from our youth sponsorship days when we went to the football game and cut out as much of the orange as I could. I took the wig and gave it a hair cut saving the pieces I cut off gluing it onto a piece of foam to be used as his beard. A bandana and mirrored sunglasses were the finishing touches in creating little Willy. :)

Cheyanne inherited her costume from a friend so she was nice and easy. All we needed to add was some fancy hair and a bit of makeup, always her favourite part! She was definitely very regale!

Daddy wasn't able to be done in time for us to head out, so our first stop was to head to the barn to trick or treat and see what Daddy and Henry had for us! 

Next we hit our wonderful neighbour. The kids love going to her place because she always has a festive house and her costumes are the best! 

As usual we bumped into the crazy Derksen clan along the way. So while we went up and down the road I grew up on the kids car hoped along the way. We had some crazy minions join in the fun :)

I think my favourite part about trick or treating is how we end up visiting with people we never see. We take our kids to my old neighbourhood and they knock on the same doors that I knocked on as a kid. For the most part it's the same people answering those doors and exclaiming just how cute the kids are, laughing at their costumes, and catching up. It's pretty neat to see the kids getting to know the people that I grew up knowing, even if it is only once a year to get candy :)

And.....our Halloween ended with........the dreaded flu I had been waiting for. It started with Emme around midnight throwing up all over her bed and the floor, next Bella came into our room with a tummy ache. As she crawled into bed, tucked herself in she sat up and barfed all over my side of the bed, luckily I jumped out of the way just in time, but unfortunately for me, I had glued my spare sheets into her costume :S. The next morning Mason and then Cheyanne followed suit. 

Mason and Bella passed out on the couch, Emme was smart and went to bed for 5 hours. Woke up feeling fine :)

This was a long and violent flu, nobody could go too far without their puke bucket!

Fall Field Trips

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We have gotten off to an awesome start this year in terms of field trips, and not just the kind that involve grocery shopping or the odd Costco run, haha. The kids have been fortunate enough to take in some really cool places.

The first was a favourite, however, no pictures were allowed. They were able to sneak a peak at a local movie set for a big Hollywood movie being filmed in the area. It was really neat to take a behind the scenes look at things. No movie stars were there or anything, although I don’t think that would have mattered to the kids at all, lol, I may have found it exciting though. One of the highlights of this trip for the kids was having one of the house painters measure their heights to put in the door jam of the house. Now they are pretty excited to watch the movie and look for their names, lol. The learning highlight was realizing a new “artistic” career. When you look at a movie set you don’t realize just how much artistic talent is necessary to make something new look old or stage things just right. After visiting the set we were able to see that another career for an artist could be in set design, and Miss Cheyanne realized that she might like to turn her fashion design aspirations into movie set costume design. 

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We also started off the school year by participating in a family run to fundraise for Kelowna’s Hospital. It was a colour run, so along the route there were people who threw powdered paint on you as you ran. The kids thought it was great, it definitely made it easier to complete the 5k! It was an opportunity to have a lot of fun as a family doing something active, and at the same time raise funds for a great cause. I think hospitals are something that we take for granted most of the time, but when you yourself or someone you love becomes dependent on the care and equipment at these hospitals it really opens your eyes to how important they are, as well as how much funding they need. I feel so blessed to live in a country where medical is covered and we don’t have to go bankrupt to pay our hospital bills! I am also thankful for the dedicated men and women who choose to become nurses, doctors, and other health care professionals, a career I could never do!

 

Before in our crazy outfits

  

and after... full of beautiful colour :)

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Davison’s Orchard was our next field trip. It was a lot of fun. We were able to go with a few other homeschool families we know, as well as join in a larger group of homeschoolers to take in a class tour. The crew showed us around the orchard, the processing and packing houses, apple juice making, and the huge refrigerators. The kids also got to check out the petting zoo and kids’ coral. The kids took in a train ride around the orchard where they grew all kinds of vegetables, and then made a stop at the Empire apple trees. Here Farmer Jim taught them how to properly pick an apple and how delicate apples are. “Turn the eye to the sky” and you will pick an apple without bruising it or yanking on it causing other apples to fall.

The kids got a kick out of trying to find all the minions hard at work!

  

checking out the warehouses and learning how they make apple juice

  

 waiting for the train to take them into the orchard

 learning how to properly pick an apple "point the eye to the sky" and the names of some of the many varieties they grow

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The Gleaners and Village Cheese Company were another interesting field trip. I wasn’t able to attend but the kids were able to go along with friends, and apparently had rather fascinating conversation all the way there, it may have involved just a little potty humour! At the gleaners the kids were able to see how they are able to take fruits and vegetables that farms can’t use or are donated an turn them into foods for needy and starving people. One small bag of soup mix can make 100 cups of soup. The operation was truly impressive! It is pretty amazing to see so many people volunteer their time for those who are in need. I hope this is something that we will do as a family as our kids get older, and definitely in our retirement! The kids were also able to try some of the soup. The kids weren’t huge fans of it, but beets have never been a big hit for them. When they were done at the Gleaners they carried on to the Village Cheese factory. The highlight for them there was learning how squeaky cheese was made.

 learning about the steps of dehydrating and making the soups

 some of the many volunteers

 

 this bag of soup can make 100 cups of soup

 learning how cheese is made

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The Okanagan Youth Symphony was our latest field trip. It was so inspiring to see such young kids excel at music. There is something about a chorus of violins that just gives me goosebumps! The symphony always brings out so much emotion. It makes me tear, lol. It was really fun to chat with the girls about what their favourite pieces were and how different pieces of music made them feel. It was really cool to go, and I can’t wait to attend the next symphony event with the kids. Unfortunately for Cheyanne she was feeling awful from having had a nasty flu so we only made it through the first half of the performance, but it was long enough to have the girls loving the music and wanting to go back. So, to me that’s a win! 

 waiting for the concert to start

 Merida and Snow White made the trip too!

 A pretty impressive crew between the ages of 12 and 25.

And of course we have had our typical shopping field trips :) Most recently we went to the mall to find a dress for the upcoming dairy conference. The girls pretty well reenacted "Say Yes to the Dress" so I figure that must cover drama learning outcomes right? They were constantly telling me that this one didn't have enough sparkle, or that one's too plain. They were quite opinionated, in the end we did say yes to a dress, but it wasn't their favourite, lol.

The First Day of School!

I am not sure what it is, but it seems that the first day of school is not getting any easier. With each kid I keep thinking that kindergarten should feel like no big deal, I mean two have gone before and loved it, but for some reason it seems just as hard to watch that little one go so young to be with someone else for the majority of their day. There are aspects that are different or easier once you get used to it. I am definitely not as nervous about letting her out of my sight or sending her on the bus. I mean, with Cheyanne we drove her, Emme we sent her on the bus because she had a friend, and Bella we sent her on the bus, no friends necessary.  I guess that with each September, with each child starting their first day of kindergarten it’s that reminder that time passes quickly, that the kids are growing up, and that the time we as parents have to invest in these kids is passing away faster then we’d like. It makes us wonder if we are doing enough, loving enough, and sharing life/Christ with them enough.

This September it seemed that kindergarten kind of snuck up on us. I couldn’t believe Bella was going to school this year, my baby girl! Bella seemed too young to be going to school, which is strange because she was actually a lot older then Emme was when Emme started school. There is just something about her that keeps her young in my mind. Maybe it’s the fact that she has such a wild joy in how she sees the world. Always giggling and laughing at herself, or at some silly joke she has come up with. She’s a little spitfire and I love how she looks at the world. Her little personality is so special, she brings so much joy into our family. I think what I find hard about sending her to school is wondering how it will change her. How she might learn hard lessons, face hurts, feel she needs to change. It seems like school can be so full of lessons that aren’t related to academic learning. It’s easy to be afraid to send your kids off and put them out there for the world to help shape. I definitely feel the pressure to love them better, talk to them more, and build stronger relationships as I watch them grow up, that and cover everything they do in prayer! That being said, in many ways I look forward to seeing what she will learn, how to be independent, make friends, and think for herself. I am also interested in watching her interact in a group of kids without her sisters to rely on, it will be neat to see how she handles these social situations. I know she is loved and prayed for by her teacher and she will thrive in the setting. So, as hard as it is to watch my baby girl head off to school, I know she is going to have a wonderful year, and for that I am excited!!

Bella was pumped for school. She had no fear of heading off to kindergarten. I have never had so much fun back to school shopping. Bella is hilarious when it comes to shopping. She absolutely loves all things girly and love to pick out her clothes. She likes to wear dresses and glitter and pink. We spent a whole afternoon trying to find a Barbie backpack to match the Barbie lunch kit she had chosen. In the end she had to settle for the princesses on her backpack, but she picked the prettiest pinkest Princess backpack I have ever seen, lol. She also loved choosing an outfit, but couldn’t make up her mind what she wanted there was just too much to choose from. She has her heart set on a pair of floral print jeans but when the store clerk told her they didn’t have anymore in her side she stomped her foot and sighed, lol. She settled for a pretty pink skirt and cute little cat shirt.

The first day of school came and she was ready! Up, dressed, and excited for the whole first hour, lol.

Ready to go with her 3D back pack :)

Her teacher sent her a letter in the summer telling her to bring her favourite stuffie and a drawing of her family.

First day in front of the school, luckily not old enough to be embarrassed by me taking her picture out front.

Seeming all grown up finding her name and hanging up her backpack.

Having Emily working in her classroom has made school that much more exciting for Bella!

First day riding the school bus, she was pretty excited! The excitement is starting to wane already though, lol.

Meanwhile, our first day of homeschooling went well too. It’s always exciting for the kids and I. New books, new notebooks, and fresh pencils make it fun to get started. I also try and have some type of fun activity book or little gift for them to start every year off. This year the younger two got cool sticker books and the older ones had some doodle books to work through. Our school year started off with a crazy first week due to graduated kindergarten entry. Cheyanne and Emmersen had to be very flexible in their studies. WE did school work in the hallway of Bella’s school, McDonald’s play place, and the playground.

First day of school!

Doing school work in the hallway of Bella's school while she attends her first day of orientation.

Another half day for Bella means school at McDonald's.

PE at the playground!