A Day At The Beach & Other Happenings

There have been lots of coming and going of the Harder cousins these days. Last week when my mom and I had 7 kids in our care, we ventured to Lake William. It wasn't the warmest day we've had, but the kids still braved the water!

Keziah loves her older girl cousins and is doted on by them. Here she is with Kailyn & Maddy:

Silas loved exploring at the beach and getting in some walking practice with Granny.

After this picture, he got his hands covered in wet sand and put one in his mouth. He kept trying to take the sand out of his mouth, but of course each attempt only made matters worse...

Micah has been having such a blast with his cousins this year. Last year he was a little reclusive when all the kids were around, usually finding a quiet corner to play by himself. But this year he's a totally different kid - very social and outgoing. He's soaking up all of the cousin time. He's quite chatty - even with the grown-ups. A few weeks ago some of my aunts and uncles were visiting and Micah made himself right at home with them. He especially loved playing crokinole with them :)

Olivia & Micah hunting for bugs in Granny's garden:

Keziah telling me something very important (as usual):

The kids seem to all love the task of shelling peas - especially when Uncle Erik promised them a toonie each :)

Silas is getting braver with his walking and standing, but he's still not convinced that it should be his primary mode of transportation.

Keziah and Lazarus the cat have an interesting relationship. She pursues him almost constantly and smothers him like crazy. The cat tolerates it surprisingly well. It's funny though - Erik and I have noticed that when Keziah loses interest in the cat and walks away, he will often get up and follow her. So, we think he actually likes her more than he lets on :)

There has been other excitement on the home-front this week:
- Micah & Keziah horseback-riding for the first time (pictures will be posted hopefully later this week)
- Micah getting his first loose tooth
- Silas getting his fingers slammed in a door (thought he might lose one of his nails at first but I think it'll be OK)
- And the biggest "excitement" was Keziah hurting her arm while playing with Daddy and some of the kids on Sunday night. We brought her to Killarney emergency but since it was a long weekend in a small town, there was no one to take an x-ray. They sent her home because at that point she was calm and they didn't think there was a break. However, today she hasn't used her arm at all, it's swollen and a couple of times when she's put weight on it, she's screamed inconsolably. So, first thing tomorrow we'll be getting it checked out!