I know my heart is in the right place and that's what matters the most

First off, YES those are extra kids in my house that are not residents of our home. Secondly, NO we are not having play dates just for fun and to ease the boredom. Thirdly, YES I very much know and RESPECT the recommendations that we are to self-isolate and not be around anyone who doesn't reside with us, however, in our world that just doesn't work for every circumstance. Jim's job on Texada is still operating and up until early next week I have still been going into the office most days to work while Jim has been home from work on holidays and in the mornings. 

After VIU's year end next week, I am extremely fortunate that for the foreseeable future I am going to be working from home, which means that I am able to still continue with watching kids while I'm home with my own 3. 

 I have been watching Hads and Kins for almost 3 years now and Katelyn and Tye for around the past 6-8 months. Both sets of kids mom's are essential service workers (nurses) and K&T's dad is a small business owner. PLEASE know that I understand that this is NOT a choice that everyone would make, but it is a choice that Jim and I have made and we feel comfortable and totally at peace with it. 

I love all 4 of these extra kids (and any of the other extras that we may end up with down the road) and not for a SECOND when I heard that schools were closing did it cross my mind that I would back out on any of them now. It's just not who I am.The work their parents are doing is invaluable to our community and I so respect the position that they are in with needing to work and run their business. In our every day life I feel like we go above and beyond to be of assistance with watching other kids and we will continue to do it in the months to come. I would take in more kids if I had to for other essential service workers too. Yes, I understand that this does increase our risk of catching the virus seeing as we are having extra people in our home, but because of that risk we are not seeing my parents, my aunt and uncle, my sister and brother in law, etc. We have literally seen no one face to face except these 4 kids for the past 2 weeks and I plan to keep it that way. All of the parents involved here understand that if anyone gets sick that every day/week is up for discussion and that is what makes it easy for us to be as flexible as we can.

I'm sharing this not because I overly care if people agree with our choices or not, but because I do want to take photos of them over the next few weeks in our Adventures of Homeschooling and wanted to be able to share without people thinking we were just having them here for fun. I've had the photos below all week and wanted to share but didn't for fear of the questions I would be asked. I'm hoping that this will explain my position on it. I am okay if you judge me for my choices (although I do hope that you won't), but in my heart I know that I'm doing it for the right reasons, and to me that is all that matters in the end. 

Oooohhhh....let the fun begin! Next week we're going to spend our days together doing fun stuff like arts and crafts, outdoor walks and scavenger hunts, some math worksheets, reading practice, a science experiment or two, and lots of outdoor recess and lunch time too! Wish me luck because with this crew it could get very interesting! 

Today we did some coloring, tomorrow we break out the paints for some rock painting!

I love this girl. She's got a heart of gold and is the best helper ever. 

These two were adorable helping me paint the hearts on the door at the school

Yummy new favorite snack - strawberries and Nutella!

We just set up the Wii again in the basement and now I have to figure out what school subject that could relate to for those afternoon tea breaks I will want to take. PS: Kennedy's face is how I envision I will feel on some days! :) hahahaha

Photo Friday - Faves from the week!

Starting off the week with this adorable photo of my three fave girls! I'm surprised I captured it actually with all the movement going on! 

This little girl is so lucky to have these big "sisters" in her life and I am fortunate to get to be in their lives too, hopefully in a way that matters to them when they are older. 

The snow hit and this kid was out there before school shoveling walkways and sidewalks. I love him and his big generous heart. 

A little late night play with Dad and Kennedy before bed.

My little snow bundle. Thank god this snow suit still fits from last year because for the little amount of snow we get I hate buying new snow suits every year for only a few days of use! 

This guy took 5 day old french fries that were in the fridge, threw them in the microwave and heated them up with a big scoop of my homemade potatoe/bacon soup on top.  He is so random sometimes it kills me. And somehow he doesn't get food poisoning which actually surprises me!

Just another crazy morning at the Barrows house

I have said it many many times before. I love having extra kids at my house. Playdates (which aren't as common anymore with my working and the kids ridiculous sports schedules), before school, after school, sleepovers, etc. I truly love my friends kids and my kids friends and genuinely enjoy having them around. Some people say I'm crazy for saying yes to the craziness, but what most don't realize is that once you get past 3 I don't feel like it's any more crazy than it already is. Lots of times when other kids are here it makes my kids fight less (although they still listen like shit!) and they often occupy and help with Kennedy too which is very helpful. On the days that I am running short on time I can usually sneak in a quick shower while someone somewhere is playing with Kennedy.

This morning was another one of those days where I had both the Foster girls and the Doxsee kids. This combination doesn't happen super often but when it does it's pancakes all around! And usually a much earlier morning getting going so that I have time to get everyone ready and out the door in time for me to get out the door to get KJ to the babysitters before I have to work!

These girls were amazing and unloaded the dishwasher for me while I made lunches and the boys got ready for school. As a treat they all got some vanilla steamed milk.

Before the craziness of breakfast hit I caught her laying alone on her little couch just flipping through James's book. This is rare at our house, especially on extra kid mornings when she is rarely left alone for a moment.

Wanted to attempt a group pic but they were impatient so I didn't push it! Here are the boys heading off on their bikes. 

And here's the girls with Tye walking ahead. It really helps living right around the corner from the school and having kids big enough to walk together!

Throwing it back to December 2018 and another wild but fun day with these 7 great kids!

Selfie Sunday

I take a fair amount of selfies with my kids but rarely of just me. I find though that I don’t tend to share very many of them and I’m not sure why that is. Soooo....here’s a bunch from the last few month or so...in no particular order because I can't be bothered to put them in order!

All dressed up for my dinner out so snapped a few with my littlest cuties

And my biggest one too. The biggest little was down in the kid cave ignoring us.

New favorite family selfies, taken at the beach a few weeks ago!

WHY people, why? They are all so much like their father sometimes it kills me! 

Here comes a whole bunch of me and KJ. Because she seems to be attached at my hip lately there are obviously more of her than the other two kids!

Heading out for ice cream after dinner one night last week

Poor sicky baby girl

I love her hair and how it's growing in to a perfect little bob! 

Aaaww...me and Hads playing some Operation on a quiet afternoon last week

Jordie boy and me at the park!

Random selfie with this big guy who is rarely around these days!

Little group selfie action

Back in early March when the Solomon's came to visit!

Proud of Jimmy for snapping this selfie while they were mini golfing!

Me and my girl Jenn with our ice cream during our random chance encounter at Putters one night!

Now a bunch that I never shared from the Canucks game we went to back in February. Such a fun night for me and my love.

And that's just from the last MONTH and that's not even all of the selfies we've taken. I take pictures almost every single day of the year and I don't see that changing until all of my kids hate me and won't let me take their photos anymore. But until then I'm going to keep at it. One day when they are all grown up I will make slideshows of them that show them aging right in front of my eyes. Then I'll probably cry :) 

Favourite Photo Friday - a new weekly post!

I think this one should be an easy one for me to pull off seeing as I take photos every single day!

Funny enough when I started to look through my pictures for the week I realized that I actually didn't even take this photo...and for once it's not of the littlest one that seems to be the most photographed these days. It was no different when my boys were little, they just happen to be near me the most!

Danielle sent this photo to me the other day when she watched the boys for me for a few hours. I love these four little monsters so much and a picture of all 4 of them smiling at once is rare!

I know it’s Spring when...

....mom and dad are sneaking slurpies and ice cream after the kids got to bed!

A few nights ago we were thinking we wouldn’t get them again and then Danielle texted to say she was thinking of them since I mentioned them. So off Jim went for a treat for all 3 of us. Yummy!!