Silas Matthew Lafleur

Silas Matthew Lafleur entered this world on March 12th at 11:03 pm. 8 lbs 11 oz. 

He is an answer to prayer and a gift from God. More details on the story of his arrival and why we chose his name will be coming soon. For now we wanted to share some pictures...

The proud father of two sons :)

The proud mother of 5 littles.

Our kids on their way to the hospital to meet their new brother.

Introducing Silas to his siblings...

Big sister, Ella.

Big sister, Juliette.

Big sister, Karis.

Big brother, Peter.

Kisses from Peter.

Veteran big sister.

Proud Grandpa Rob.

Loving friends, Sean and Miriam.

Loving friends, Serenity and Moriah.

Silas' first bath.

Famous car seat picture. Each one of our babies came home from the hospital in this gender neutral sleeper.

I'm not sure if Peter fully realizes what is going on yet. But I do know that he will be very thankful for what took place on March 12th for years to come. And so will we!

Violin

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Homeschool Days

We are switching gears from our focus on Canada. We are now into an animal theme for our read alouds. We selected a pile of books that have animals as the main characters, and we have switched our table around. Our table now displays animal facts, a map of where different animals live, and pictures of animals. Between seeing what is displayed on our table, listening to the books, and looking things up in the encyclopedia, the girls learn incredible amounts. It is such a cozy and fun way to learn and we love it.

Peter loves dogs. So Ella has been showing him all the different breeds of dogs in our "D" encyclopedia.

And Karis has been showing Peter where different animals live.

People often ask me "what do you do with Peter and Karis while you are homeschooling?" And the answer is they are part of it. They listen along, play on the floor, are taught by their older siblings, have their own focussed story times, interrupt things often, test their mother's patience, etc. Overall, it just works for us. For the majority of the day we are all together. Figuring things out, exploring things, resolving things... the togetherness plays a major role in the beauty of this life.

And if all else fails, Peter loves to play at the kitchen sink.

We are very happy with our math program this year. We are using Saxon math. The manipulatives are great and add a lot to our learning. And, yes, Juliette is often dressed like this during math. Math comes right after a little break and play time... so often a princess or a fairy comes back to the table.

Ella's love language is gifts. She has always loved to give things to others. From an early age she would come to church with handfuls of cards to hand out, or sometimes even ziploc bags full of random paper scraps. 

These days she loves to leave notes and verses under Momma and Dadda's pillows. It is a pretty awesome way to end the day for us!

The girls wrote some verses to put in frames for their bedroom.

And our Spring Break from homeschooling is approaching. We have decided that we will take our 2 week Spring Break starting when baby arrives. And maybe a few days off beforehand too, since this Momma is slowing down a little :)

French

For the past 4 and a half years, the Werdal family has joined us a weekly French class. Last week we had our last French class. We are going to be taking a break for baby Lafleur to arrive. I will miss seeing these smiling faces in our home each week. They have blessed us greatly and they have deeply inspired me with the way they live their lives.

When Ella and Juliette were very little, I started tutoring Sophie and Penny in French. At the time homeschooling was not at all on my radar. I had all kinds of stereotypes of what I thought homeschooling was about. But then I met the Werdals and my whole thinking of homeschooling was rearranged. And here we are!

Juliette's good friend Claire (from Community Class) had her birthday party last weekend. Juliette was very excited about attending all on her own. 

A fruit snack for 2.

The girls love taking pictures of each other. Above is Ella's picture of Juliette. Below is Juliette's picture of Ella.

Ella's fish, Poppy, is thriving! 

Ella loves her little brother. He loves her as well. Grandma Jo-Ann tells us that when she watched the kids last weekend, Peter woke up in the morning and was calling "Ella, Ella" from his bed. These two have a very sweet bond.

Juliette has learned to draw dogs. Peter loves dogs, so she often draws them for him.

And Ella has been joining me on my "jogs". At 36 weeks pregnant, she is faster than I am!!

Our World Book Encyclopedias that we bought off Craigslist have been an amazing investment. During our read-alouds the kids often have questions and we look things up together. It is such an amazing way to learn. I know there is wikipedia, but there is something about looking things up the old-fashioned way that makes my heart happy. 

Ella has started coming out to look things up in the encyclopedia during her rest and read time. There is just so much to learn!

And on Saturday evening we participated in the Coldest Night of the Year event. Here's a picture of our girls with some of our friends from community group. It was a great walk!

Family Day

This weekend was Family Day weekend for us in British Columbia. We continued with our tradition of washing one another's feet. This tradition reminds us to serve one another as Jesus served.

And today we took the kids down to Stanley Park. It was beautiful, warm, and sunny!

We enjoyed looking at the totem poles and reading about their stories.

The girls had fun pointing out which totem pole went with which sign.

And then we biked / scootered around part of the seawall.

And spent some time collecting shells on the beach.

Belly shot at 34 weeks.

To end our day we went for a fancy dinner at the Teahouse. The girls packed dresses, jewelry and fancy shoes for the occasion. They loved the Teahouse and said that it is "even fancier than White Spot." They even drank Shirley Temples. And they were on their best behavior... although their motivation for this is questionable. On the way out Ella said "we were so polite, you will probably want to take us back here."

Even Peter enjoyed his fine-dining experience.