Marianne 6 weeks

 Big sister is a big help and she enjoys these moments. I enjoy seeing them!

We are still trying hard to get her weight gain to go up. At 7 weeks she has gained almost 1 lb after she reached her birth weight at one month. That is too little, but at least we are going up and not down! We have had her seen by a pediatrician but nothing is wrong with her that is obvious to us at this point.

We are just thankful that she is all right and that we don't need to worry anymore. We might never have an answer as to why she can't nurse enough on her own to gain, but there are other ways to feed her so that's what we do. And we do know that she is getting stronger so there is hope that all will be well soon!

My Three daughters & Me

Here is a photo of myself with my 3 daughters. Or do you see only two? Look harder!  I  sometimes can hardly believe it myself, but the Lord is blessing us with our fifth child. It looks like it is going to be another daughter, a perfect playmate for my little baby girl. I feel so blessed at times when I hold her in my arms and feel the little one kicking away inside of me. How could I deserve it? Two babies! Although I must say Victoria is no longer such a small baby anymore, especially when I see her in this photo. Still, I call her my baby. We will be welcoming the little dear in March.

This is taken at the maya ruins we visited with my sisters' family as they were visiting from Canada.I will do another post with more photos soon...

Fall in March, and a photoshoot

 Did I hear someone say the title can't be right? I guess this country does not listen to the rules! I must say Belize is so unique, and this March I can't help but notice a hint of spring with pink and white flower trees, fall, summer and a bit of winter, all mixed up.

 Ok, so maybe its not autumn, but it sure is fall! There was even a chill in the air when we took these photos.

 

 

 

 

Most photos done by my sister-in-law, Delia. Thank you sis!

Ten Years

A whole decade has passed since I first held the smallest, sweetest, most adorable little baby I had ever met. Now she is ten.

I made the party a little heart-themed. she was due on Feb the 14th, and even if she was not born on that day, she is my valentine baby.

Here she is with her Mennonite friends from school.

Baby 4 months

Baby photo update. It is unbelievable that baby is almost 4 months. Internet service is very sporadic lately, hence the reason for so few blog updates. Hopefully it will improve soon

 Now that I have two girls, I could not wait for them to have similar dresses. I had these made for both girls...cute in purple!

Tea party with my daughter

Now for the tea party details I promised you... The chalkboard is an old one that I recently painted white. It used to be just plain wood.

One reason I wanted the tea party at this time was because the tree the table was under, was blooming beautiful purple flowers. Which is why we chose a purple theme for the party.

Jessica baked these mini cupcakes a day before. I try to stay away from artificial food coloring. So we iced them with icing made with juice extracted from huckleberries. We couldn't have gotten a prettier coloring anyway!

Wonderful black tea spiced with blueberry and vanilla that I bought just for the ocassion. I must say, I love Dilmah teas! They come with different flavors like lemon and strawberry etc...

Some flower scented purple incense cones.

The lantern is one I recently painted white. Can you tell I am starting to like white things? I have some more items that need painting white, but for now I am happy doing other 'stuff' that is fun. (Think old wooden egg crates)

Can you guess where I got the idea for a white lantern? Why, Aunt Ruthie's, of course! I saw one on her blog, and liked the idea so much, now I have this one inside my home as decoration. People all love it! Even my husband, who was very skeptical when I said that I would paint a red lantern white! Don't you just love when that happens!?

My daughter loves the Little House books, and never tires of reading them over and over. That is fine with me! I couldn't think of better books for her to enjoy...I used this one because it matched with the color theme, AND because I really believe these are the happy golden years...

Isn't it amazing how the colors match?

What was very cute was the way the boys came around to grab their cupcakes. Joseph is holding a stick  in his hand, while behind Timothy is the stick horse and straw hat he has thrown down to take a bite. I love my boys and their boyish ways!

...and my girl for her girlish ways...

This white dress was given to her by her auntie Delia who wouldn't just give it to anyone because it was so special to her. Thank you sister!
The hat--under $2 US at the local store...

I deeply treasure these special moments with my one and only daughter (so far). I am so thankful the Lord saw fit to bless me with her!

Linked to these parties:
The Shabby Nest 
Funky Junk Interiors

Homeschool Update

 This photo has nothing to do with the post, but I just feel like posting it anyway. Tennessee wildflowers that we picked when we lived there. 

 Taken in Iowa when I took her out for a little mother/daughter time. I need to do that again...

Some of you may be wondering how or if Jessica is still learning anything at home. Sometimes I ask myself that, and I almost panic, thinking, what if I am missing something important or she is far behind other children her age? As little time each day as she spends in her books, (except in her story books!) I sometimes think, shouldn't she be doing more??? She has completed Gr. 2 Math and Reading, and was only left with Language Arts and an Animal Book to finish. I know it will not be enough to keep her busy till the end of the schoolyear, and she has to keep busy somehow, so yesterday I went to a bookstore in the city. And whew! I was surprised and happy to find such a collection of different books; for Belize, that is... I found a few Spectrum books, which I have found work really well for her, so I bought her two books, Math and Phonics. My sister had a science book that she let us use. Here is the exciting thing; I realized buying more grade 2 stuff is useless for her. I bought her Gr. 3 books. So, for a mere $20 spent on books and a little fun shopping trip, our girlie is entering Gr 3 today. I can't help but feel a little giddy about it. She is growing up so fast! Besides doing those few study books, she spends much time reading Little House books, and other good children's books. I feel that alone is very educational for her, plus piano class once weekly and practice daily.

Tea Party Time

Jessica has been asking for a tea party for a long time. I finally ran out of excuses not to have it, so that's what we did a few weeks ago. It's a great thing to do in the dead and dread of winter. At least winter has an end in sight, eventually.

The gift I bought Jessica a while ago at Cracker Barrel. Best restaurant and great country store. They actually sell toys that people (like me) can be proud to have in the house. Good thing was, I paid only $10 for it. Real silver coated. We used this as our centerpiece. We didn't actually use it for tea, but it can be used for tea for two.

A tea aparty would hardly be complete without a teapot, and about one week before the party I still didn't have one! Lucky for me I found this one when I checked Goodwill to see if they had a good teapot for me. I served up some oolong tea, something I drink a lot of lately...

A sugar and cream set, which I picked up at a garage sale many years back. The good thing about a tea party is that I get to use all those special dishes that are not for everyday use.

Some sandwiches...

I had made some rhubarb matrimonial cake.

Maria's crackers, of course! You can get them from Mexican stores.

Some homemade mints.

A teacup I found recently at a thrift store.

A teacup and saucer I paid lots of money for, but I wanted it so bad, I didn't care. The wild rose is Iowa's state flower and they grow in our ditches in summer. I just had to have it. Tea tastes super in it.

And here is an impatient princess that couldn't wait for her friends to arrive!

The guests. Not even half of all the girlies we had invited were able to come, but we had a grand time anyway. It was so worth it.