End of 2015 recap!

Once again life has been insane and I feel like it's been a race these last few months. The girls are doing wonderful at school and December was busy with p/t interviews, field trips, Christmas concerts and parties. I was also asked a couple of months ago to preach a sermon at our church during the month of December. So between all that and a very busy, working husband it's been insane. So I am thankful for Christmas and a chance to rest and catch our breath. My sermon went very well and I am hoping to get it uploaded to remember this opportunity. I put in so much time and research and it was amazing how God spoke to me while I was researching. My topic was Joy and how as Christians we should all be living our lives in joy as it is a fruit of the spirit that is produced in our lives from havingChrist in us. I was pretty nervous to go up, but had wonderful feedback as I was quite comfortable once in front of everyone. God gave me His peace. 

 Pretty cool thing that happened this month as well... Our life group has been doing the study radical by David platt and it has been pretty awesome for our whole life group and very impacting to Steve and I. 

I remember a while ago during the study I woke up and told Steve that I think he needed to go on a mission trip. It was random and that was it. But then fast forward a few weeks and Steve gets in contact with a man who does building projects in the Dominican. Actually Steve was talking to one of his clients (and now good friend) about how he wanted to do some kind of mission trip and this man has gone on one the last few years to the same area. So this man contacted Steve telling him he was preparing to go down right away- January 12th for 10 days to build a church and home in the community they have been supporting and have already built a school. So Steve said he was very interested. The next day Steve gets a call from the clients he was going to buy their trailer off of and they said they were praying and felt like they needed to give the trailer to Steve and would not accept any money for it. We were blown away and just knew we had to say yes to the building trip in the Dominican as the trip and the trailer were the exact same cost! Isn't God amazing?! I love how he works! So all that to say, my hubby is heading to the Dominican on his first mission trip and we are very excited/ nervous for him. Steve's dad as well as another man from our church has also decided they want to go. So it is going to be pretty amazing for them, to serve their God alongside one another. 

This fall we had a few visitors to our new place. Steve's parents came out for thanksgiving and cooked us a wonderful turkey dinner. They had also never been out to the west coast of the island so I found a good deal and booked a few nights away at a resort in tofino. We had an awesome time and some beautiful weather. 

For Halloween this year the girls were Elsa, Anna and Olaf... Obviously! We went trick or treating with our friends the dollmans, the girls had so much fun! 

Then my sister and her kids came out the weekend of Remembrance Day and we had such a great time. The kids played so good the whole time and my sister helped me make stockings! She is wonderful! 

End of November, beginning of December we got a dump of snow and the girls were loving it as we could toboggan in our front yard!! We spent the weekend and everyday after school for a week tobogganing before it melted away! 

I also just recently dyed my hair dark and am quite enjoying it! I have always just added blonde highlights for as long as I can remember, so it was nice to switch things up! 

For Christmas this year my parents flew out to the island on December 21 and are here until January 2 nd. So a nice long visit! 

2 days after they arrived I went into the Duncan hospital to get my 4 wisdom teeth out. I've been on a waiting list since the beginning of summer and my two bottom teeth were impacted so when they called and said they had a cancellation I agreed- even though it was awful timing being right before Christmas. But I called my mom, and she said she knew it! That she had a feeling that was going to happen while she was there. I was so very fortunate to have my parents here while I got them out. I went into he hospital first thing in the morning and didn't get out until 1:30- apparently it took me quite some time to wake up from the general anesthetic. I was quite uncomfortable for the first few days and my mom was my super hero. She took care of me and my girls the whole time I was useless and let me nap every day... I don't remember the last time I did that! She cooked up the whole turkey dinner and didn't complain once... And she was even sick fighting a sinus infection, she is truly amazing!!! I also have wonderful friends and had one drop off a whole kit with ice packs, movies, chocolate and stuff to make smoothies! And another home made ice cream. I am so blessed.  

Christmas this year came so quickly! And the girls and I had so much fun decorating our new house! We did a bunch of thrift store shopping and scored some beautiful garlands. The girls were so fun this year and decorated the whole tree themselves. They did so good! 

We tried to keep Christmas simple this year and started the season out with our advent that we do every day. I got a new one this year that had a new Christmas carol at the end for each day and it was fun listening to Danika sing them all! She was so off tune but sang her little heart out. She is in choir at school and loves to sing. This year we got ourselves a used hot tub... And it has been so nice! We love it! And the girls got a trampoline from their grandparents! We did simple gifts- a few things for their dolls and they got some new beautiful coats and crafts from their other grandparents. 

We always want to do simple Christmas but with so much family and everyone insisting on buying things it always gets to be so much! But this year we asked for the trampoline instead of things and so far the girls have been out there constantly! They love it! 

We also found out we could purchase nights away at the tigh na Mara with air miles. So we got a night away for my parents and a couple of nights away for us! And that is how I am finally blogging! Yesterday we came up to parksville and met up with my parents and they took the girls home and we stayed in parksville. Last night we tried out a cute little Italian restaurant in qualicum beach and then today was amazing! We slept in with no children waking us up! And then we went for a nice long breakfast at the resort and then a long stroll on the beach where we had a wonderful time of prayer for 2015 and thanking God for His goodness in our lives. We then relaxed all afternoon and then headed to the spa where we spent six amazing hours in their mineral pool, getting a couples massage and then dining in our robes at their endless tapas bar. The food was unreal! We were blown away by our time spent at the spa and it was all part of ourairmiles package! 

This has been so nice to slow down, re group and re connect! I am so thankful for my parents and their willingness to watch our three girls. I am feeling very thankful!!! 

 

This week Adessa has finally agreed to stop sucking her thumb! I can't quite remember but I think Danika was around this age when she started as well. We took her two blankies away and we are on day 4 of no thumb sucking. We are so proud of her!

Amara is awesome... she has such an outgoing, hilarious personality. She makes us laugh on a daily basis!

This Week

Yesterday was crazy. Adessa woke up in the wee hours of the morning puking, and continued until about 11 am. She was so brave. She never complained or cried once, but a few times asked for food right after getting sick. The poor girl went down for a nap for a couple of hours and then woke up completely better and has been fine since! 

At one point I left the three girls on the couch watching a show and went upstairs to go to the bathroom. In a span of a few minutes, Adessa ran upstairs and missed the toilet, puke all over, so Danika starts screaming and then Amara walks into the bathroom sucking on the end of the toilet brush!!! It was a bit of a nightmare! Thankfully Danika stayed home yesterday as she has been fighting a cold and wasn't feeling good in the morning, but she was such a huge help with amara as I was taking care of Adessa. 

Today Danika was back at school, and we had our home visits from both the girls teachers. It is such a great idea, as it helps teachers get to know the kids better. Adessa is so sweet she prepared all morning for her teacher to come visit. She cleaned her room, she got dressed all pretty, made her teacher a card and a bracelet. Then she helped baked cookies and some iced tea. The visit went very well. Her kindergarten teacher is a new teacher, young and so sweet. Adessa just loves her! 

Danika's teacher brought her home from school and she has been teaching for 32 years. she is super sweet and Danika says she is her second favourite teacher so far. I think it will be a great year for my girls. 

Galiano island

On the weekend we worked our butts off on the Saturday to get some more unpacking done and Steve went and bought some shelving for the small storage room we have. I took off in the morning to take Caroline for her birthday present... Pedicures at a little Asian salon I'm Duncan... It was SO fun! Such a lovely break and we laughed our heads off at the massaging chairs. 

But came home to help my hubby with the house. We got quite a bit done, but things are so slow moving with three kids. 

Sunday we went to church and then afterwards we took our boat out for the first time! ( with boat number five!) We went with a little crew of friends and headed to an island where the men dropped us ladies and kids off and they went fishing. They came back with a couple huge ling cod fish and we explored the little paradise island! It was wonderful! 

That evening we came home and put the kids to be early and then made dinner with the fish caught that day and had a date might at home. No tv... Just talking. Just what we needed! 

New house

We have been moved into our new home for 2 weeks today. We are loving the extra space, the location and the size of the yard. It has been insanely hectic however and I feel like right now is the first time I have put up my feet and taken a deep breath... And that is just because I got home from walking Meeko for an hour with a friend! 😜 but I needed out for some fresh air! 

I have unpacked so many boxes it is crazy... And there are still more. But the spaces that count are all unpacked. 

Our moving experience has been something I wanted to document. With our few weeks notice to get out of our home for the new owners move In date, things were a little hectic getting out. I had packed up our home, we had booked a moving van and we asked a few friends for help. But I think I was a bit delirious or something, because I should have flown my mom out or somebody to help me. This was by far our biggest move, and we have three young children. Out of our five moves in our eight years together we have had help for them all... But this time I just didn't think... Or I thought I had it all together. But boy was I wrong! Thankfully I last minute asked our babysitter if Danika and Adessa could sleep there and they happily took them for two nights. So the night before we had to get out we loaded up the uhaul. We got the biggest 4 bedroom house sized uhaul you could get and we filled it to the top.... Twice!!! It is unreal how much stuff we have! The next morning we got up early, packed up the rest and headed to our new home. We arrived and met the landlord from pemberton Holmes realty to do the walk through, as that was the earliest we could get in. She took us around and we were appalled! The place hadn't been cleaned... The floors were filthy, washrooms disgusting... Nothing was done as promised! We were so upset! We had a full uhaul in the driveway and Steve had hired his guys from work for the day to unload, not to mention that we had to be out of our home that day! So we did what we had to and had the guys unload into the dirty house because we had to go back to our house and fill up again and I had to go clean it. We got back and I had a couple of my good friends stop by and help me unload the kitchen which was super helpful! I felt at my wits end at that point so was very thankful for Sharon and Charlene and thankful that my girls were still at Meagan's! 

That evening Meagan's family had us for dinner and offered for us to sleep there, but we wanted to get back to the rental. Steve and I couldn't sleep that night and ended getting up at 4 am to start settling ourselves. It was quite the day! 

Then the girls started school three days after we moved in. My Danika is in grade three already and Adessa is doing three full days of kindergarten a week! Seriously where has the time gone?! They both have been liking their new school and love that they can pray and read bible stories. We are very happy with this new change. They both looked so beautiful on their first day of school, but sadly I didn't even take a picture! 

My Adessa Mattie turned Five!!!

My baby girl turned five on August fifth and I just can't believe it! This past year she has really grown and is not a little girl anymore. She is my little ray of sunshine and has the best smile and laugh of anyone I have ever met. Her laughter is so genuine, that she makes anyone laugh when she starts! 

Her birthday was a very fun time this year and the lucky girl had three separate celebrations. One in Calgary with grandma Mattie, her actual birthday and then we did a joint party with her best friend kailey at fuller lake. 

The awesome Frozen cake grandma Linda picked up! 

My beautiful girl!!! 

Dearest Adessa ,.. I hope you had the best birthday in the world because you are the best five year old girls that  I know!!! Your special smile, beautiful face and daily enthusiasm for life make me sad when I am not near you! I hope this is the best year ever and God will keep your heart and life pure And strong!!!! Love you always and forever... Grandmaac

The Past Month

Ever since our vacation in Calgary I feel like I haven't had a moment to rest. Our time away was wonderful and I have a thousand pictures to prove it, but just no time at the moment to recall the time away. It felt like a blur- even though it was three weeks, but I really felt the difference this year with a one and a half year old. The trip was fun, and every day was packed with something, but it was exhausting. Steve flew in for our last busy week and the evening he flew in, we were out for dinner and got a call from our realtor that our house had sold! By one of the first people who looked at it, but needed to sell their home first. We were very excited and agreed to their terms of wanting possession on August 28th, because we were just so excited to have sold our home in the market. 

Reality of the situation didn't hit, until we got home. Our last week in Alberta was filled Dailey with events. Steve and I had the night away he flew in and then spent the day together while grandma and grandpa had the girls, then the next morning we had family portraits in okotoks and then that evening we had my cousins, Stephanie's wedding reception. 

Steve's family took Amara that evening because we were on the nw side of the city and the reception was very late. They offered to keep her as it was midnight by the time we were done and we agreed. Unfortunately the next day Amara was very missed and I still feel terrible as we did a joint party for Amara and grandma Mattie and she never got to see Amara. 

But that afternoon we had to rush off to cochrane to go see Steve's aunt and uncle who were visiting from Newfoundland and it was the girls first time meeting them, and my first time meeting Steve's uncle. We stayed in cochrane for a quick couple of days and then drove up to Edmonton to meet our new nephew Caleb! He is such a little sweetie and we were so blessed to meet him as such a new baby! Amy is doing so well and we had such a lovely visit. It was also much too short but at this point I was itching to get home and figure out where we were moving and to start packing our lives into boxes. 

These past couple of weeks I have been packing in between trying to find a place for us to live and taking care of three children. We just found out a couple of days ago that we got a place to rent... Praise God! So we will be renting this home for a year while Steve builds us a house. We have an offer on a lot in maple bay, and have a couple of weeks for those conditions to come off. So we are just praying for wisdom as we walk forward in regards to building and where. 

The past week all the girls had fevers on and off and have been quite sleepy. I am praying that whatever they have that it stays away from Steve and I as we don't have a day to just lie around! He has been extremely busy at work, which is wonderful, but means he is gone all day and into the late evening and then our weekends have been spent packing. Today we pulled everything out of our yucky garage and vacuumed thousands of spiders out and then re-packed it so I can start getting boxes out of the house to see what I have left. We get the u-haul on Wednesday and then move over on the Thursday morning. I am feeling quite excited about some more space! The house is 2400 sq ft compared to our 1500 sq ft. So the girls will all have their own rooms, with Danika's room being the guest room and then on the main floor an office for Steve. We are on almost an acre of land and the back is fully fenced so lots of room for Steve's trucks, trailers and boat. 

I am very much looking forward to being in the new home and unpacking... And then school starts on the second of September! I will be ready to send the girls and have some time to put my feet up! 

Awesome week!

A few iPad photos from the rest of the week. Tomorrow we pack up and convoy back to Calgary where I'll spend another week until Steve arrives. We had lots of fun the rest of the week. Yesterday we boated to Margaret falls and we have been playing tennis, and getting in loads of tubing and wake surfing. 

View from the condo each evening. 

Lins rocking the surfing... She is very good! 

Selfies! My poor baby and her bruised face. She fell on cement stairs again and smashed her cheek and nose. 

The wake surfing finally clicked for me today! Such an amazing feel to be able to throw the rope and just ride the wave! 

Beauties! 

My dad is awesome! He totally figured out the surfing today as well! 

Adam is just awesome.... He jumps the wake and does all sorts of cool things. 

The littlest cousins. 

Girls going tubing, while the ladies read books on the beach. 

Amara played this game for awhile- throwing the rock in the water, grabbing it, sitting on my lap and them repeat. 

Watching the three big girls play, but thankfully didn't want to go in after them

She attacked me with sand, it was everywhere! 

Morning snuggles in the condo... I miss my bed!!! 

These little gals rocked it on the tube. They went faster and faster every time they went out! 

Sister love! 

Co captain of the ship... She is an excellent boat driver

Evening dinner at the condo! 

Yesterday was a good day. Adam and Lins picked us up in the morning and we headed out toShuswap to find our own beach. It was a scorching day! High 30s. 

We set up our spot on the beach and had a blast doing every water sport. I got up on the slalom ski and forgot how hard it is on the body! I am still determined to master the wake surfing... It is very addicting. The girls went out for a long tube ride with dad and uncle Adam and at one point on the beach we could hear adessa wailing from the beach. Apparently they hit a wave and she got ejected about 6 feet in the air and landed in the water. But when they went to pull her back into the boat she said she wanted to keep tubing! So proud of her! 

The girls also tried skiing for the first time, but none of them had any luck. Ella was the closest to making it up. So we watched some YouTube vids and will try some new techniques this week, and can hopefully get one of the girls skiing! 

Good days at the lake!