Baby is here...well 5 weeks ago

On June 10th we welcomed baby number 3 into our family!  We are now a family of 5.  It seems like Abraham has been with us much longer than 5 weeks.  We have adjusted well to a new baby and the kids are really enjoying being a big brother and sister.  

Lady J is very helpful making sure that the baby always has the soother in his mouth (even if he doesn't want it :).  

 Eben also loves having a little brother.  One of the first weeks home I heard him tell his little brother.  "Mama says we are going to be best buddies".  It was the cutest thing I have ever heard.   Eben also likes to tell people that there are now more boys in our family then girls!

As for me and my job of being a mama.  I am in love!!!  Some days are more stressful than others but I thank God everyday for my blessings He has given me.  I am learning to trust in Him for strength as He teaches me how to be the best mama for them.  

This year I decided to focus on scripture that call my children gifts and blessings.  A friend of mine who leads a moms group gave each of us journals so I copied out this scripture on the first page.

Don't you see that children are God's best gift? 

      the fruit of the womb his generous legacy? 

   Like a warrior's fistful of arrows 

      are the children of a vigorous youth. 

   Oh, how blessed are you parents, 

      with your quivers full of children! 

   Your enemies don't stand a chance against you; 

      you'll sweep them right off your doorstep.

Psalm 127:3-5 (MSG)

I keep the journal in my purse and have been using it to write down blessings and struggles throughout my days.  I also use it to write out prayers I have for each of them.  There is a 31 day calendar of prayers that I also like to use.  The pages are also filled with character qualities I want the children to have, books other mama's have recommended and quotes about parenting.

I enjoy pulling out this book while I am waiting at the doctors or for other appointments.  One really cool story that is in my book was written back in the winter when I was asking God to renew my desire for being a stay at home mom and for more confidence to say my occupation was CEO of the home!

 Here is how the story goes.

I was sitting in service NB waiting for my turn when a young man noticed my X ring (my university ring where I graduated).  He looked at it and said.  "Oh you went to St. FX. What did you take?"  I could feel my heart start to pound harder as I would have to explain to a stranger about my degree.  I have a bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition I replied.  He looked at me impressed with the education I had received and quickly spoke back with so you are a Dietitian?   Yes I replied sheepishly thinking that would be the end to this conversation, but no he had to ask the question I have the hardest time answering.  So where do you work?  Taking a deep breath I looked at him and said I have decided to stay home with my children and be the CEO of my house, I answered back with confidence and shock that I had been so bold.  To my amazement (I know it was a God moment) he looked straight into my eyes and said.  " My mother was at stay at home mom, putting us before her, so on behalf of your children Thank you for making that investment!" And with that his number was called and he was gone.

That encouragement came to me when I needed it!  And on days when things aren't going the way they should and I am frustrated and at my whits end I simply remember that investments don't come easy but the return is well worth it.   

38 weeks and ready to pop

This past weekend our sweet friend Grace came down from Moncton not only to visit with us but also to take some photos of my "big" belly and our family.  The kids were a little non cooperative but she did manage to get one great family photo at the end of our session after we feed them some chocolate mini eggs.  Note to self for next time; have lots of treats on hand to reward children for looking at the camera! hehehe

We have a lot of funny stories from our short session but this one is us trying to get Jaelyn to stop crying and come join our family! hehe

See parents this is what you get when you offer chocolate to just get one nice picture! hahah

Once the kids pretty much had it Grace was able to get some great photos that I can't wait to blow up and frame!! 

I really love this one.  I can't wait to scrap book it and put it in the nursery.  I just need a nice bible verse to go with it.  Something like out of your love be fruitful and multiply :P  

I wanted some bubble gum for this one to say ready to pop but Grace did a great job adding that to the picture!

Here are some other great shots from our fun morning together.  

It was very sunny and hot this morning so it was a little more difficult with the sun then what Grace had hoped.  But she still managed to do a great job. 

And of course the candit pictures are the ones that are so special and I love how she captured Micah telling a funny frog story to Jaelyn with 2 frogs that he caught during our session.

Thanks again Grace for capturing our family of 4 soon to be 5.  You can check out her website at Grace Caines Photography. 

Mothers Day

I think every mothers day I say "that was the best mothers day yet".  Well this year I think it really was a great mothers day.  Here is the low down on how my day or should I say weekend went.  

Saturday we had the Peterson family all over to our place for a Nacho mothers day party.  The kids had lots of fun playing together in the back yard.  He is the 1 "nice" picture we took for nannie...Jaelyn wasn't looking for this one but like I said it was the nicest out of the 20+ that we took...heheh.  This will be one of the last pictures of 6 grand babies as number 7 is coming in less then 3 weeks.  Right now there are 3 boys and 3 girls so this baby will be the tie breaker. 

After stuffing our faces with delicious nachos we had a fruit waffle cone dessert bar.  I am still learning how to use my new camera I got for mothers days so I made Micah be my model.  He is just so handsome.

We had lots of different fruit, waffle cones, real whipping cream and chocolate or caramel sauce for the top!  They were a hit with the kids and the adults enjoyed them as well.

On mothers day we got up like usually and headed off to church.  Last year some ladies and I had a fascinator party the Saturday before and wore our pretty creations to church for mothers day.  Even though we have moved to a new place I wanted to keep my fascinator tradition going.  So here I am with my beautiful fascinator made by my friend Jessica (check out her facebook page, like it and order something she is amazing!)

After church Micah prepared a delicious brunch meal for me since breakfast is one of my most favorite meals.  Its called scrambled egg bake.  I will share the recipe later this week over at Kate's Kitchen. 

In the afternoon Micah handed me my camera and said go take some pictures and learn how to use it...  Did I tell you how much I LOVE that man!!  So here are a few pictures I got of Jaelyn playing around our yard.  She has decided that she really loves grazing on the chive plant; which is fine until she comes running up for a hug and kiss.  What a smell!!!  

I don't think she minds being a model right now! 

And of course while I was taking pictures Micah was preparing for supper.  I love steak so every mothers day that is what I want. So here are our local t-bone steaks!

You can't have a steak without onions and mushrooms fried in butter! 

Look how yummy and pink that steak is!  My husband is awesome on the grill. 

For dessert we enjoyed a fondue party with the kids while we watched the movie WALL-E.  I don't think I have seen Eben eat so much fruit.  He really loves chocolate!

Jaelyn couldn't stop eating long enough to take a picture with us.  

Here is my 2012 mothers day with my 3 (one in the belly) babies!!!  I love being a mommy and I wouldn't trade this job (even through the hard times) for any other job in the world.  Its days like today that make all the "other" days fade away. 

March Madness

I can't believe March has come and gone and I haven't even gotten our March Madness update up yet.  So its a little late and we are into April now but here are some fun things that we did in March at the Peterson house.  The first week of March here is March break so the kids didn't have any school.  We had our cousins over to have a fun day of playing outside and baking cupcakes. 

Eben got to enjoy the last little bit of snow with some other
friends sliding.

The temperature was unusually warm in the middle of March so mama in her nesting stage of pregnancy started some spring cleaning with help of course.  Jaelyn already had done some windows so I think here she is taking a break.

We also found a big play ground here called Dream land.  Its a very big wooden play place so we enjoyed a couple of afternoons/evenings playing there.  We learned that Jaelyn really loves the swings. Not the baby swing though the big swings is where she wants to be. 

Eben loved this tire tunnel that you can climb up through.

During our Spring cleaning we found these fun hand puppets that we got from Auntie D.   So we all put them on our hands and enjoyed the next couple of days of playing monsters. 

Towards the end of the month the weather went crazy high in the 30's so the kids had lots of fun playing outside on the deck, the swing set and their bikes. 

We also had the privilege of heading to Halifax to a conference called Jesus to the Nations.  This year there were two awesome guest speakers.  It was a great weekend hearing from  KP Yohannan and Shane Claiborne.

The last week of March was my 30th week of pregnancy.  So here is the baby bump picture

I will try not to be too late next time getting pictures up and updating on the adventures of the Petersons

Family celebration

Last month our family got together to celebrate some birthdays that had happened in January.  One was Micah's aunt and the other was one of our nephews.  We had a great meal together as a family!   The building was decorated so nicely with beautiful lamps, scrabble word titles, pom poms and the most colorful napkins.  

The meal was prepared mostly by Micah's cousin, her husband and of course nanna.  But everyone was quick to help in when we all arrived. 

At least once a year at a special family get together we always have homemade ice cream.  The kids along with their dad took on this job...I think they were having a lot of fun! 

Jaelyn kept busy driving around supervising and making sure everyone was doing their job. 

It was a super fun night!