Finishing up and looking to next year...

It seems that the older the kids get, the shorter the break between finishing up for this school year and beginning to think about next. So this year? I feel like I'm planning next before we're even quite through this one.
Son number one is to blame (but in a good way). He decided quite suddenly to get serious about his school life which means, summer classes and planning for next year and thinking about what he wants to be when he grows up. What brought this on you might ask? Well I'm not quite sure but let's just say that giving him a concrete short term goal (a new laptop) and a long term purpose to shoot for (working toward an Engineering degree) has certainly worked for this one!

What better than to make a mom feel her age then to have her oldest going into Grade 10!! He's almost 15 and really becoming a man. This would make him so embarrassed to hear but, I'm very proud of him! And really excited to see occasional glimpses of the man that God created him to be peaking through the eyes of the boy he's leaving behind.

Here he is as I dropped him off at the airport last week so he could head off to Edmonton to attend a huge Christian Youth weekend with an old friend....


The crazy thing about kids is, we'll probably have to use something completely different to help motivate and inspire boy number two...and then girl number one and then girl number two...I think God designed it that way, just so we don't get bored or get any rest. Certainly keeps me praying!

Two in a row...what the ...????

I know they're dark and fuzzy and sort of hard to see but I have to share. Mom and I hit the nursery today and I've got a new addiction! Plants everywhere! Also we're getting closer to being done the new rock walls and gardens. LOVE IT! Maddy and Amelia shovelled "poo" (dirt) as they called it. And Mads made the little round garden around the apple tree herself. She's pretty proud!
(disregard the shovels and the crazy landscape fabric mess. A garden mag this is not.)
And I couldn't resist this beautiful Hydrangea (just trust me on this one. It's dark and far away.)
I even managed to plant up some of my planters but most of all...I found the torches I bought at mother's day and finally got them out. This is fun!
...and tomorrow? Well, I've hardly put a dint in the flats I've bought over the last few days. I have another table exactly like this on the other side of the deck too :)
Happy Spring!!!

I'm back!!!

I've been reading and lurking and just haven't written for what I now realize, is almost a year.

What have I been doing with my year you might ask? I'm not even going to try to go back over it all BUT I will say that the time between my last blog post and this one has been filled to the brim with people I love and who love me. People I gave birth to, or married, or whom I've known as long as I can remember and new people whom I've grown to love.

For me there's nothing like a friend. The time and effort are almost always worth it. God calls us to be part of community BUT I believe it's more than going to church or school or work, more than joining groups and showing up. It's more about making myself available. It's really knowing people rather than knowing OF them. It means I'm going get hurt or inconvenienced or uncomfortable. And worst of all...(for me) it means I'm going to screw up and hurt someone. It just happens. Real life, it's messy.

But it's fun! It's full of laughter, late nights and early mornings, of good talks and good cries and wine! Lots of yummy red wine.

I read this in a fav cookbook this am. I loved it!
"As much as I care about food, dinners like that remind me that the food is not the ultimate point - the people are. And when I remember that, it is much easier to have people over." (Perfect Recipes - check it out. Awesome cookbook!)
Whew - this makes me feel much better about Amelia's birthday when I accidentally burned the corn at our dinner for 20+ or Easter when I burned the mashed potatoes for 40+. If you can't laugh at yourself what can you do?! Hopefully everyone still loves me and had the fantastic time they said they did.

So here I am, back at this blogging thing. I'm going to try to stay with it as it's such an encouragement to me to read my own words from a year ago. There's so much going on, I need a place to document our lives.

So here's where we are right now:

The girls bedroom addition is almost finished, only the window trim and bathroom mirror need to go in. Mom and I plan to make the cushion for the window seat this week.

Oh and the built in is not quite finished but we won't think about that right now.


We've (and I mean that in the broadest sense of the word) have been building rock walls in our yard...and now I have new garden beds to fill and old ones to weed and plant.



Unfortunately my hubby has done something insane to his back so...he's off excavator duty for now and has to leave this HUGE and I mean huge job he's started almost done. Is it killing him to lay on the couch while he wants to be building a patio and moving rocks? Yes. Yes it does BUT he's in so much pain he is actually staying there. Lots of prayer is needed! BUT he is getting much needed computer work done so...it is not all bad.

And we're finishing up the school work for the year. Levi has decided that he's going to do some serious academics for grade 10, 11 and 12. It's taken us all a bit by surprise but he's motivated and I'm very proud. He's decided that he'll do Grade 10 English this summer - wow!

Today however, is a lazy day. The kids danced in their year end show last night until very late and today is a definite day of rest. Rest and cookie decorating :) The best kind of day!
(not sure what's up with the oldest and his crazy face - ignore please, it only encourages him!)

My summer baby.

I've had a baby in every season but our first born. Our son was born in the hottest middlest swealteringest (I know, but I like to just make stuff up) Okanagan summer. July 14, 1995.
I was sure there had never been a better, cuter, boyisher baby ever born! Man we adored him! I think we just couldn't believe he was ours. I mean would you trust these two kids with this baby? I'm not sure I would! It's still amazing to me the faith God shows in us when he entrusts these precious vulnerable people to us!

It's been a joy so far to raise Levi Peter Jay, to watch him become a man. We're so excited to see what God has for him next week, next month, next year! He's fun and smart, a good friend and brother (and he's kind of annoying but comes by that honestly too).
Happy Fourteenth Birthday oldest son of ours! It's been a joy to watch you go from this....

to this....

Dance-o-rama day....

It's here. It's here! The much anticipated, much practised for , many dollars spent in anticipation of Year End Dance Recital. And yes I do believe these words deserve both italics and capitols. This is A BIG Deal in our teeny tiny world folks! I can't wait! The kids are very excited. I'm going to cry, I just know it!
My boy, my creative, wonderful second born son, has a major role in the ballet. This is pretty amazing to me as he just started. Last year he sat in the audience and thought, "yah, maybe I'd like to try that."

Here are Isaac and Olivia, so excited to get a SYTYCD dude's autograph at the last competition....

Amelia, (youngest and still in the Rec program which = less time and money, thank goodness for small mercies) is a "gangsta bunny" - her words. I have no idea what this is but I'm excited to find out. I'm pretty sure it's a lot of standing around on stage staring into the lights because that's pretty much what 5 year olds do on stage for the first time. She's also in a ballet class which means a crazy mad dash costume change for her. Next year it's only one class for my dance crazy youngest!

Here she is at the park while we wait for her bro. and cousin to finish their dance class....

Please anyone reading this, hold me too this!
And Madeline? My beautiful Maddy. She is a different kid this year, happy, confident and looks like a dancer. I cannot wait to see her ballet piece. They dance to The Colours of the Wind this year and just watching the practice made all the moms tear up. It's a lovely lovely dance. (and yes, we recognize we are very bias - it's our job!)

Here's a bunch of them at the last competition. She's the first girl on the right....

So what would normal moms do before this huge day. Should I get a couple extra hours sleep? get the dinner ready? How about stress about all the things there are to do?
NOPE.
I went for an 18.5 km run!!!! YAY. I can run again. The injury seems to have healed and although I'm feeling a tad stiff and will probablly not walk normally tommorow, I FEEL GREAT!!! You have no idea how happy this makes me.

Oh and I got to look after Kev's cousin's little man this week. She owns the dance studio and needed a hand. We were more than happy to hang out with him.
How cute is he?! I WANT one!!!

Another Beautiful Day and other things....

I'm sitting here quietly thinking about how thankful I am for this life I lead, not perfect by any stretch of the imagination but still pretty wonderful.
I'm listening to my girls in the shower, instructing each other on the fine art of conditioning your hair while singing random song lyrics...opps someone just got soap in her eye....

...aaaaaaand I'm back. they have a way of resolving things for themselves before I can even get there to help them!

I got up fairly early this morning (not living on a farm early, but early enough) and Isaac surprised me by being awake as well. He was so hungry he couldn't sleep so I fried him up an egg before I headed to the pool and he informed me that this was his favourite time of day to do his math. He's not awake yet you see, and it's over before he's even aware it started. Youngest Son is VERY good at math. I need all my faculties about me to tackle even the most basic of tasks in the math world.

By the time I got home, he was in my bed fast asleep...still is actually. The beauty of homeschooling!

Hey take a peek into a random ordinary day at the Speilschool house.....
The kids found my rag bag and asked if they could sew.

Notice my poor sad inadequate machine in the background? Well it gave up the ghost this day so...I need to get a decent one! Silly thing!
Hey. See if you can guess where we're spending our vacation money this year???

If you guessed in Isaac's mouth, you'd be close but we're also dedicating a bit to this child (we wouldn't want to be unfair at all!)

This one is up next if she doesn't quit with the nighttime thumb sucking....(sigh)

I really could be worse though right?! And look how happy they are as they cut things up into ity bity bits :)

And if you're thinking, but doesn't she have 4 kids? Why don't we ever see the oldest one? I do actually. Thanks for asking. It's because he's going to school this year for the first time. He loves it! Or tolerates it as much as can be expected (he is an almost 14 year old boy so...)
...Oh look, I found one. Here he is about a month ago heading off to Vancouver Island on a ball hockey tourney. He really does have a great life too!

It can be about my perspective on things. I could look around the house today and notice the dirty floor and the stacks of unfolded, clean laundry and think about the supper that needs to go into the crockpot and the shopping that needs to be done and feel overwhelmed OR...
I could hear the joy in my girl's voices and they sing and play, and the peace that surrounds our home as we learn to just rest in His promise that He never gives us more than we can handle. This is the life I'm privileged to lead. I'll try to remember that as I stand in the checkout line at Superstore explaining to my girls why I will NOT be buying them gum today.

" Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world girves. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid" (John 14.:27)

more than a month this time...

I go at this so erratically I'm not sure if any of you are still hanging in there. If you still check to see if I'm alive, thanks! I am. Life is...well it's good actually. In fact here's an updated "Speil-photo". In our defence we were in play clothes....

I'm sure you're alive and not living in a deep dark cave so you know there's a recession going on but despite all this, we're good.
God is using this time to teach me something I was not willing or able to learn at any other time. Bad times can in fact lead to good things. That was the Big Revelation from our bible study a few weeks back.

Hard does not equal bad.

Here's one you won't see too often on a bookmark or coffee cup. It's true of everything worth doing. I'm finding this even in my running!

⁷Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! ¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. ¹¹No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Heb 12:7-11

Hmmmmm....I would say that we've all had it so easy and good for so long we've come to take our lives for granted. (I'm speaking to North Americans here. Those people living in the third world who've been paying for our excess, I'm deeply sorry.)
I have to let you know that we in fact are not going bankrupt or making any crazy changes to our lives (well I am growing a garden and for those of you who knew the old me - it's crazy). My hubby owns and operates his own company. It's small but we do have a couple of guys that work for us whose families depend on our company for their income. That is some serious responsibility!

I'm finally after years of my spreadsheet loving husband lovingly emailing them to me, following the budget! AND I'm growing a garden. Guess what? I LOVE IT!
It's truly amazing and I can take no credit. Kev and the boys built it all for me, put the dirt into it and surrounded my raised beds with (hopefully) slug killing rocks. I just put the seeds and tiny plants into it's waiting beds. It's an addiction!

Obviously I didn't line these up perfectly but hopefully you can get the idea of what the view from my deck is...


And I'm growing herbs in boxes hanging from my deck again. I'm so excited about this!
I do have some pretty things growing too but it's all about the food this year.

Speaking of addictions, I'm still running. Or I was running. Today was my first day back after a bout or siatica that chased me to the pool to do this:
Deep water running

(Only without the funky shoes. And I got the pic at this cool blog.)

....With these guys, well not these specific folks but you get my drift....

It's been good for me actually. I was freaking out because I had to drop bootcamp and running and go exclusively for the deep water running. I read some articles that said it would keep me in running shape but I wasn't exactly sure. It seems to have!
I've signed up to do another half marathon in the fall which should be fun. We start training for it in July. I'm in the process of changing up my work out schedule. This is all very exciting for me but not so much for anyone else. I'm going to write more about it though cuz ... hey, this is my blog.

I'm off to check on the kidlets. My niece just turned 10 and they have been enjoying an afternoon of uninterrupted play.