Mom and the kids

Just so everyone knows, Jono left on Saturday for Nigeria. We are holding down the fort without him. Day #3 and all is well so far. Kids have been playing with their "new" car and with stickers from Aunt Nancy. This afternoon Samuel is off to the ENT to have his hearing and tonsils checked out. Please pray with me that he handles be poked and looked at well. Until next time, Janice.

A special ride with Opa.

Samuel going for a ride.

Stephen going for a ride.

Easter

The oldest cousins. Notice a theme??

Dying eggs with Aunt Theresa being the teacher.

Esther laying out with Joshua.

Stephen hunting for his eggs.

Samuel searching for his.
Silas slept through the festivities so Daddy found his eggs.

BC trip

Esther on her first plane ride.

Jono, Esther and I spent almost 2 weeks in BC. We had a wonderful time getting together with friends and churches out there. It was great to catch up with everyone and share about what we have been doing since we left there in 2006! We took our camera with the intention of taking lots of pictures of everyone and everywhere we went. Needless to say, we have a couple of Esther, some sad attempts of Mt. Baker (shots from Hwy 1), and some shots for our friend Jon (also quite sad). Its a good thing that we know photography is not one of our skills!

Finally, another post!

Stephen racing his car at the LEGO store in St. Jacob's.

Samuel showing off his car.

Silas saying hello to Thomas!

All three boys outside having a snack.

Do I bother will Christmas pictures now?

Here is Esther with her cousin Joshua. Who do you think was the bigger baby when they were born? Remember, there is only 2 months between them.

Here is a family picture that we took tonight because we needed one for Sunday when we present in a "new" church. How do you get 6 people to look at the camera and smile at the same time? Is it even possible?

Samuel's Birthday - Part 2

Opening his present from Pake and Beppe with personalized wrapping paper. What will they think of next?

Reading his new book from Aunt Theresa and Uncle Joe.

Checking out his bubble train from Oma and Opa. Could there be a noisier, wetter toy?

Trying to blow out his candles. The cake looks rather sad, some how I made fancier cakes in Nigeria. Can I blame it on having a baby 6 days before?

We took a trip to the Dollar store and Samuel picked out noise makers and his birthday candles himself. The hats are being reused from Oma's birthday in November.

Samuel's 3rd Birthday - Part 1

Yummy birthday dinner at McDonalds. Who knew that you could get grilled cheese there?

Discussing how to put the tracks together.

He has learned to open the card first already!

Our little guy is 3 already! It was good for him to have some special attention. He had been waiting for his birthday since we were getting ready to leave Nigeria!

Snow!!

Sledding off the back porch.

The three boys outside during our 3 day snowstorm last week.

All ready to head outside. It definitely takes a long time to get 3 boys ready to play in the snow!

Pictures

Here is Esther in her first non-sleeper outfit. Please ignore the messy change table.

Here is a four generation picture taken this past Monday. My Beppe is holding Esther who is her first great-granddaughter (after 15 great-grandsons!). My mom is Beppe's oldest daughter and I am my mom's oldest daughter. Silas just wanted to be in the picture too!

Esther Ruth

Well, the 9-month wait is finally over. Esther Ruth was born on December 5, 2009. She arrived just after 4am. When the boys woke up a couple hours later the got to meet here. Each of them wanted to hold her, of course. They are going to be great big brothers.
Beppe was there just in case the boys woke up and then she took them to her place for a sleepover! How nice to have the house to ourselves for a day. We do thank God for another miracle in our lives.

Oma's birthday

Here is the birthday girl after dinner. She has yet to see the wonderful cake!

The spread put together by Evelyn and Janice with some help from the guys. Decorations were taken care of by the sons and grandsons.

Uncle Dan having fun with his nephews!

A tired Samuel - he didn't even finish his sandwich!

Carving pumpkins

Here are Bob and Larry. Just so you know, Bob has ears and Larry has a mustache and hair!

Janice's 31st birthday

Jono has loved the options for ice cream in Canada. It seems that there is never enough in the freezer. His other favourite food - cereal - has been enjoyed by all. The boys love it as much as their father!
This was from my actual birthday dinner at Jono's parent's place.

We are alive and well in Canada!

I think we have 3 boys who dream of being farmers - they all love tractors and combines. Living in the country has kept them quite busy watching all the farm machinery.
Went to a local farm to pick out pumpkins for Thanksgiving/Fall. The boys had a great time with all the "toys".
Playing in the leaves with daddy at Oma and Opa's house. Thank you Beppe Great for the hats, mitts, and scarfs. We have used them a lot!

A Bunch of Firsts for the Barnhoorns

Well, Stephen's tooth finally fell out sometime yesterday while he was playing outside. The new one is already visible. He is quite excited to have a nice space between his teeth.
I had a few firsts yesterday as well.
1.There was no line up at the pre-natal clinic. Turns out the clinic wasn't on because of the national holiday for the end of Ramadan. Thankfully I was still able to see my doctor.
2. The doctor said I was looking a little thin. I don't think anyone has ever said that to me before!
3. The doctor also took my blood pressure and said it was low and that I needed to eat and drink more! I don't think anyone has ever told me that I needed to eat and drink more either!
Well, all in all yesterday was a good day! We also put all three boys in the same bedroom so that we can have some room to pack. All three eventually went to sleep. Unfortunately we didn't get any packing done because we played Ticket to Ride last night.

Big news in our house...

The big news in our house is that Stephen has a loose tooth!
Oh, and we fly out on October 8th! Time to pack up and get ready for Canada!

More village

Here the boys are eating one of our last dinners in the village. I make chips from pita bread and we were dipping them in our chili. Its one of the few ways we can get them to eat chili!
Samuel and Stephen would always ask to play in the rain because they would stay dry in their rain coats and boots. It always turns out that their torsos would stay mainly dry but their boots would be full of water! Then a few days later they would have colds. Is it worth it? Still undecided on that one!

Our last time in the village.

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Our last time in the village proved to be quite eventful. As most of you know, our truck was in an accident. Thankfully we were not in the truck. This termite "invasion" also happened on a Monday morning. That was after two ant "invasions" Saturday and Sunday nights. (see next picture - there are ants and baby sacs which is quite gross) Needless to say, by lunchtime, our house was a lot cleaner but my tolerance level of village life was a LOT lower!