Amara is 8 months and 3 weeks old... almost 9 months! So much has changed and I promised I would capture every moment... every first and every last, but it really hasn't happened. Steve today mentioned that I haven't blogged in awhile... and it HAS been much too long! Each day passes in such a blur and people ask what I did this day or that, and truly I don't know if I can pinpoint exactly what I did, other than keep myself and my kids fed and alive! The girls are settled nicely into school routine, Adessa is loving preschool and is quite popular with her little friends as they fight over her time. Tonight at dinner we were comparing the two girls (I thought I would never do this!!) But it is so easy to do, as they are just so completely different! If Danika ever got in trouble at school she would feel terrible and would tell us right away, actually she tells us most details of her days. But not my Adessa- Danika was talking about how kids in her class talk and get in lots of trouble, and I asked Adessa if kids in her class ever got in trouble. She said that the teacher would say to be quiet and listen and when I asked Adessa if that ever happened to her she said in her most serious voice, "Mom, she only has to tell me 3 or 4 times a class." Steve and I couldn't keep a straight face.

I am quite enjoying my time these days. A friend and I have worked out a car pooling system so that she drives in the mornings Adessa goes to school and I pick up the girls afterwards. That way Amara gets her morning nap and I am able to get a few things done around the house. Amara is growing and changing so much. For her 8 month appointment which was a bit late and we did last week. She weighed 15 lbs 13 ounces and is still quite petite. She is still in her 3-6 month clothing but I just brought up the 9 month stuff as the pants are getting a bit short. She is still so content, she is fully sitting by herself and is happy to just sit and explore the world immediately next to her. She seems to have no desire to crawl and I am perfectly happy with that. Her hand eye coordination is improving and she is able to play with her toys and bring things to her mouth. She has not yet figured out the pinch to feed herself yet, which I am finding quite time consuming as she likes her 3 solid meals during the day and eats quite a lot, which I have to keep her mouth full or she is squawking away. She has refused to eat purees other that her cereal, but loves exploring new food and textures. This week she had cod fish for the first time and seemed to love it. She actually likes most of her food, as long as she can attempt to chew it. Her first tooth popped through on September 3rd... same day as back to school and she still only has her 2 bottom teeth.

I am really drawing blanks as to what to write so I'll just end with a few photos!

It was Danika's Doll Taryn's birthday this week, so Danika had a friend over who also has a Maplea doll and we celebrated by decorating cupcakes and having a tea party. 

Adessa and I took our babies for a stroll one morning on the boardwalk. It was gorgeous out!

Decorating pumpkins after school last week- always a good time!!!

Amara still LOVES her bath time and Danika is such a big help to me! 

My day to day life is pretty much captured on my iphone and I haven't figured out my e-mail yet, but hopefully I can soon, and really start updating my blog. For my own sake. Already the girls and I have sat down and looked back on our blog and it has been so special to have. So I need to get better at it!!!

Blink of an Eye

Summer is over! It was full and so much fun. Beginning of summer the girls were in swim lessons at the crofton outdoor pool. They both had there best friends in there lessons and so it was basically one on one. They both passed and had so much fun. Definitely will be doing that again next summer, even though it was every day for 2 weeks. The first 2 weeks of summer were gorgeous and almost every day after lessons we stayed for public swim, so Amara had her first time in the pool and loved every moment!

We got our fourth and *final* boat... and she is a beauty! It is a boat Steve doesn't have to put any extra time or money into it and it has a bunch of extra bells and whistles. We are very happy with it and it has been awesome taking out all our visitors on the water and showing them islands! 

My mom, dad, brother and his wife road tripped out at the end of July and we went over to Ucluelet for a few nights. It was freezing and foggy but we still had a blast surfing, body surfing and hot tubbing at our cabin. 

Adessa LOVED body boarding... much more into than the older sister. Danika was pretty freaked out and it didn't help that her wet suit was too small on her. She much preferred beach combing. 

Ucluelet... my dad is a rock star surfer! 

The brother in laws

Meeko surfing it up

The best... seriously such a selfless trooper, she spent 2 days freezing on the beach with all the kids while we surfed! Mom you're amazing! xoxo 

God's beauty never ceases to amaze me!

Auntie Nikayla

Special memories at the beach with Uncle Joel

The girls and I road tripped back with my family to Calgary for 2.5 weeks and spent the time at my sisters place. The morning we woke up it was Adessa's 4th birthday! My how time flies... this little girl has grown up much too quickly!

Meeting Granny for the first time! Amara does not like to cuddle like Adessa did, she is a strong little thing that wants to stand and look around the whole time. 

We took about 50 of these... this was the best one! Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandchildren!

Granny and the girls!

Amara meeting her other Granny, she had us over for a yummy lunch. Unfortunately the kids were done at this point!

Trying to get a nice photo in their sunday best... no luck!

SO many special memories with their cousins... such an amazing trip!

My beautiful, amazing sister who was so helpful to me with the kids and opened up her house to us for 2 whole weeks. Amazing meals, and so much fun every day! 

We got to see Steve's parents and sisters for one day, as they just got home from Newfoundland. It was so nice to see them, but way too quick of a visit!

My sister in law Amy and Niece Emilie drove home with us. 16 hours straight in one day... Emilie was my saving grace on the road trip, she helped out SO much with the girls and kept them fed and happy!

We missed daddy SO much... never allowed to be apart for 2.5 weeks ever again!!! He worked his bum off while we were off vacationing, best hubby ever!

My baby growing much too quickly! She started sitting up on her own while we were in Calgary. 

New Stuff

Another couple of weeks have flown by, here is a little re-cap. 

Danika ended school at the very end of June so these are a few shots captured on our last day of being just us 3 girls! Adessa LOVES her little sister and is such a big help! Amara is still as content as ever. She really likes her jumper, but is still too short to reach the ground, even on the lowest setting, hence the pillow under her feet. 

She is growing so quickly thought. This week I had a check up because she has a bump on her head that we thought was changing a bit, but the Dr reassured us that it is not and that it will go away. Amara weighed in at 13 lbs 9 oz. I finally packed away her newborn clothes and she is now sporting the 3-6 month old clothing. So much of it is from her Auntie Linsey, I just love her little roots yoga pants!

These pictures look IDENTICAL from last years grad. Both Danika and Mrs. Mitchell were wearing the EXACT same dresses!!! Too funny! Danika has worn this dress for preschool, kindergarten and now gr. 1 grad. She has SO many dresses, but this has been a favorite! Mrs. Mitchell has been such a special part of our lives and is someone we will never, ever forget. She has helped Danika so much and wrote such a beautiful note to Danika. When Danika read it, she cried pretty hard. It is going to be a big change to have a new teacher in the fall. Danika passed grade 1 (thankfully!) and has just reached her reading mark for grade 1. So we have set up a chart for reading and writing every day this summer. So far it is going well! Mrs. Mitchell said that Danika has such a passion for learning and that is something that cannot be taught! We have been very blessed by the school, by the wonderful teacher and special learning teacher Danika has had, to backing onto the school and having Danika able to walk to and from school. We are so very proud of how hard Danika has worked this year and how much she has learned. She is growing much too quickly!
Her best friend Lize finished school a week earlier so surprised Danika at her grad. The top right picture is Danika's best friend at school. Her name is Naona and her family moved here from Japan last year. It has been neat watching their friendship grow as Naona has really been learning her english. 

Amara is replacing the girls real dolls... they had her in their dollies crib in the play room and Amara just loved it!

We took the boat out after Steve got home from work to tent island. We were the only ones on the beach and it was such a gorgeous evening. It was the first time we put Amara's toes in the ocean, and she didn't even flinch. She loves the water already!

My little girls were swimming away, practicing all their new moves they've been learning in swim lessons. It was about 8 pm at night... crazy kids! The top picture is of the girls in the front storage part of the boat. They made themselves a little fort, had all sorts of snacks and were giggling away. I LOVE watching their friendship grow. 

A few photos from swim lessons. I enrolled the girls in swim lessons for the first 2 weeks of summer holidays at our outdoor pool in Crofton. It is SO perfect! The weather has been amazingly hot and the girls are in lessons with their best buddies. Kailey and Adessa go first and there are only 2 other little boys in their class. In Danika's swim lesson there is Danika with her 2 best friends, Lize and Naona. And not a single other person in the entire pool. It is like their own private lessons. Danika has gotten so good at swimming and is diving to the bottom and holding her breath while she swims under.
A few times this past week we have stayed after swim lessons for free swim. I love the small town as there is very few people that come up, and the ones that do we know. And the lifeguards play games and give the girls candy.
We have one week left of lessons so I am looking forward to how much the girls will learn!

Last weekend we went over to some friends- The VanBovens from our old church. They are dairy farmers and have 4 older children. After lunch we went out on their boat on Quamichan lake. The girls got to go tubing with the older girls and had a blast. At one point Steve was driving for the older girls and knocked them all off. Adessa was dead serious and said she would never tube again because "daddy drives way too crazy!" We had to try and reassure her that he wouldn't do that for her! Then the following day we took the boat out again with the Nagtegaals and just went for a ride on the lake. The little girls and I jumped in. The lake is in between Crofton and Duncan, with quite a few homes on it, but no one really swims in it as it is kind of swampy. But out in the middle isn't too bad... so its like a lake to ourselves! The Vanboven family goes out every afternoon with their kids and said as long as you shower off after you'll be fine! Haha too fun!
On Thursday night a little friend from Danika's class invited her to a bible study in Duncan for children. So Danika went and loved it! They are learning about praying on the armor of God. Our babysitter had called me that afternoon, said she was bored and asked if Steve and I wanted her to come watch the girls. It was perfect timing as Steve had a terrible day. So we went out on a date and picked Danika up from her bible study. And when I went to pay Meagan she refused, said she just wanted to hang out with the girls. She has been such a blessing to us, and the girls just love her!

Steve continually is getting more leads and signing more jobs through his company. We are absolutely blown away by God's blessing on his company. This week has been extremely stressful for Steve however as some of his really good clients have turned kind of sour. So we are just praying for wisdom as to how to progress in the situation and it has taken it's toll on Steve. But we know God is faithful, and we will continue to seek His guidance and will for what steps to take as we have been holding true to James 1:2-5

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. 4 Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you."

And there is the end of another re-cap!