She makes me smile...

I love owning a home, and particularly love our home. Sure it could be bigger, with an extra bedroom and larger playroom, but would I ever be satisfied, or do you just keep wanting bigger and better??? Anyways the reason I say this is because I love to entertain and have people in my home, and we have never really had space to do so in the past. Last night we had Steves new business partners family of 6 over for dinner that was decided that morning. They have 4 children and the kids played so well together. Then for dessert we had ice cream with some homemade maple syrup(that they tapped maple trees for!).

The past few weeks I have been working on a website for Steve's and Mike's new business and published it last week. I have really enjoyed the challenge of working on it and figuring it out and in a sense feeling useful. I know I am useful to my children and my household, but sometimes it all feels so mundane and I just want to feel like I am contributing something.. anyways all that to say, that it was fun to work on and figure out this website, and I hope to make it better as we go along with Steve's new business. (Did I mention he was starting his own reno/building company?)

Back to loving to entertain... this evening we had 2 different families over, which made 12 of us. There were 6 little girls as both couples have 2 little girls each. So that was fun to see them all together, and they all played so well. Danika was the oldest of them all, so she felt pretty proud! We planned this get together this morning, they brought the food and I made a giant apple crisp. The crisp turned out quite excellent, and it was fun because I was able to use some of the frozen apples from our own apple tree. We love the last minute get togethers because then there is no pressure for everything to be perfect and it is always so relaxed and chill... just the way I like it!

The three middle children having a snack, I didn't get a picture of the oldest 2 or the baby!

SNOW DAY!

This morning we woke up to the snow falling, and it was so beautiful! The girls and I turned on the fireplace, made a really yummy trail mix, which we threw together with whatever we found in the cupboard (shreddies, marshmallows, raisins, popcorn and of course, chocolate chips!) We turned on 101 Dalmatians and cuddled watching a show. But the snow was falling and became to enticing for us! So we bundled up and headed outside with our toboggans!

Adessa with her toboggan pulling her snow balls... very exciting!!

Adessa tried to climb the hill, but it was too steep so she was just silly instead!
Our home from the tobogganing hill, notice Meeko, he soo badly wanted to come and play!
My big girl, running up the hill and flying down all by herself

We love being outside!

We also love tobogganing!

Danika conquering the hill

I walked Adessa up and down the sidewalk with her new toboggan (we bought it at the thrift store for $3.00!)

The snowman Danika and I made while Adessa sat happily in her toboggan eating the snow
Rolling snowballs without any snow is quite hard, but she persevered!

We had no rocks or carrots, so Danika said "lets put horns on it instead!" ...not quite sure what it is!

Steve ended up working late tonight, so after dinner I gave the girls a bath, and while I was getting Adessa ready Danika started laughing hysterically, I went in there to find my little cone head in the bath with her... and Adessa thought it looked fun as well!!! (why does this happen the day I clean my bathroom!!!)

Can you tell she thought it was awesome?!

Farm Day!

Today was field trip day for preschool, Danika goes to preschool on Tuesday and Thursdays, but today was optional for their class. One of the students family lives on a hobby farm and they let the preschool come and tour it. The girls loved it.

Danika and Lize talking about the horses, that was definitely the highlight

Adessa just stood there, staring up at the horse, she was mesmerized

Petting the chicken... I don't see the excitement in that!

The kids were feeding the chickens bread crusts, Adessa was trying to feed them their own feather!

Feeding the chickens. At the end each child was able to take an egg home!

A Clear Crisp Morning

Today Steve had to work so the girls and I went on a walk with some friends to the ocean. It looked nice out, with the sun shining, but it was very decieving! We were freezing, but decided to go anyway! Here are some pictures of the morning...
Gretta digging under rocks with the kids to find crabs. She is one brave mommy and picks them all up for the kids. I used to be like that, now they give me the creeps.. what happened to me??

This morning Adessa discovered a love for crabs, she was picking them all up, they were pinching her and she was just trying to shake them off her hand... she is a tough cookie! (notice the crab in her closed fist)

Sisters exploring together

It was too bright, so she took my sunglasses!

My Poor Puppy!

Yesterday was a little rough. The morning started out nice as a friend picked up Danika to take her to preschool, so Adessa and I had the morning to ourselves. I think I had mentioned that the last month or so had been pretty rough with Adessa as she was constantly hitting, screaming and biting. And then in the last couple of days I noticed a few teeth had come in and she has been such a joy! This morning she was playing by herself! It was sweet, I hear some sweet singing and go into Danika's room and Adessa was playing Polly pockets on the ground. She was also just dancing around the house singing (she has a beautiful voice!) and then, this surprised me the most... we sat on the couch and read about 4 books! This is quite the accomplishment as Adessa usually tries to tear the book or just gets up and leaves on the first page! It was nice just having her and seeing a different side of her.
So that was the good part of the day... now for the poor puppy story. A friend and I have been wanting to take our dogs up for a run to Crofton lake, and yesterday seemed like the perfect time. So we met up there and started walking to the spot with our dogs on leashes when out of the blue, their 150 lb bull mastiff pulls Meeko beneath him and attacks him. I had never heard Meeko cry like that before! My first thought was Adessa so the brake on the stroller went on and then I yanked meeko out somehow. There was blood everywhere, it was insane and very scary. At that exact moment the sky let loose and it snowed like crazy! I somehow managed to get both dog and kid up to the van and get him home, where Steve met me to drive him to the vet. There was blood everywhere, my coat, face, hands and the van!
Thankfully though after going under general anesthesia and getting A LOT of stitches he's back home and on the mend! Poor puppy has a big cone head and whimpered all evening. But we are just thankful hes okay, it could have been a lot worse! Now I just have this little cone head following me around, laying at my feet and bumping into everything, and he is so sweet! My poor little puppy!

His poor ear, after I cleaned up all the blood!
My little cone head

Date Night!

Wednesday night Steve and I were able to get out for a 'Valentines Date.' It was great. We drove up to Victoria in Steve's new truck (which drives great, and is super comfy!) And went to Milestones on the harbour. We were pretty disappointed in the service, but the food was good and the chocolate brownie cookie at the end was my highlight! After dinner Steve got a text from some really good friends of ours and they just got engaged! ...On the Victoria harbour! So we ran out to meet them, and congratulate them!!! How exciting!

Picture taken of us

So Exciting!!!

My beautiful friend, Amelia!

The amazing ring her fiancee had made from her mothers, and his grandmothers rings

Tuesday

We woke up early this morning to the earth shaking (well Steve did!) I remember just asking him what that was and then I must have passed out again. Apparently there was an earthquake this morning that registered a magnitude of 2.89! Pretty crazy! Anyways the girls and I got ready, dropped Danika at preschool and then Adessa and I headed to MOPS. We had a great morning and Adessa turned a page. She has never been good at being dropped off with childcare, and usually needs to be soothed the whole time, but this morning I guess she was super happy, didn't cry once and played the whole time! I hope this is a new page!
It was a nice break for me and we talked about marriage and individuality and how important it is not to lose yourself once you get married. To make sure that each individual is making time for themselves doing something they enjoy so that they can pour into others. It was good to hear, because sometimes as a mother, wife, house cleaner and meal preparer you get lost in that. Steve has always been good at letting me have my space and taking the girls when I just need a break, and I am so thankful for that!
Adessa was in such an awesome mood today, and we had such a great day together! Danika did her new puzzle we gave her for valentines, the girls 'bathed' their Polly pockets in the sink, and actually got along!! And Steve got the baseboards all up (which has been quite the process!!) This evening Danika and I went to girls club in town and Danika had memorized her memory verse so she got a treat (very happy about that!) and they made books in which their friends could autograph their names. I was soooo proud of Danika tonight, she signed her name on every ones book and didn't even ask me for help! It is pretty amazing considering she is 4 and the rest of the girls are all between grades 1-6!
Adessa had 3 teeth come in this week and I peeked in her mouth today and they are all through so I hope this happy girl I saw today sticks with us the rest of the week!

My baby girl is growing up... she is so beautiful!!!

Valentines Day

This weekend Steve bought a truck... the little blue Toyota I pictured in a previous blog post. It was a sweet find. It ended up being the truck of a friend from camp qwanoes. She was the staff childcare worker for the summer. Steve remembers one day he had to park her truck and saying how much he loved it and would love to buy it if she ever sold it... and here we are! Her father is a pastor and Steve had coffee with him, and he was totally honest about the truck, and apparently when they told their daughter we bought it, she cried because she was so happy her little truck went to someone she knew!

Anyways, all that to say that we started the day (after recieving 3 homemade valentine cards by my girl!) by driving up to Sooke to pick up Steve's little car. It took over an hour to get there, so we stayed and had lunch at Mulligans, a sweet little spot that has amazing food, and an excess amount of it! Check out this chicken burger I got...


A random shot of Danika in her onsie pj's

Adessa and I at Mulligans on Valentines

The suckers the girls recieved at the end of the meal, was the best part!

When we arrived home we headed over to the Nagtegaal farm to decorate cupcakes, here is Kailey after eating a delicious chocolate cupcake...
The icing was pretty hard to get out...
Danika's beautiful creation
Lize and her cupcake
Candlelight dinner at night- chinese food with rootbeer for the girls and wine for the 'adults'
Our first course was spring rolls, I asked Adessa if she liked them, this was her response...
notice her face still...
At lease Steve liked them!
My sweet little Valentines
We asked Danika to take a picture of us...
My Love
Adessa eating her Valentine present, a chocolate sucker!


I always remember while growing up that my mom took the time to make special occasions just that... special. I want to make memories with the kids and even though they did have a lot of excess sugar today, they did amazing and we had a great day together!