Mom comes for a visit!

My mommy flew out to visit solo a couple weekends ago and spent a week with us. It was so wonderful to have her. I sure had missed her! 

We kept totally busy the entire time. When she arrived we stopped in Goldstream and spent a couple of hours checking out the salmon run. There were thousands of giant fish all swimming upstream, and dead ones everyone... it sure stunk! We walked down to the nature center and the girls did "fish prints" where they had a giant dead fish, the girls painted it and stuck a piece of paper on it... they sure enjoyed that! YUCK!

The next day we took mom out on the boat to check out the sea lions in Cowichan Bay. These beasts come up from California every winter to gorge on fish for a couple of months and then head back down. It was quite the experience! We were blessed with a gorgeous, sunny day and I am always amazed at God's beauty when I am on the ocean. There is so much to see and so much to enjoy!

Posing just for me!

So fun having Grandma with us!

Amara's first time seeing the sea lions... I don't think she even noticed!

My beautiful momma, right in her element!

They have some big chompers on them!

Captain Steve and his right hand girl 

Such amazing creatures

We got a little too close for comfort... our boat wasn't turning quite as quickly as I wanted it to...

We almost had a new passenger!!!

Grandma making the annual gingerbread house with the girls and giving them bunny ears... classic!

Took mom out to a ladies dinner at Calvary Baptist Church... I feel so very blessed to have a mother as loving, caring, helpful and generous as this one!!! 

The girls have been wanting to go skating for ages, so after planning it all week we finally decided to go... but got to the rink for the only night of the week they have public skating and there was a hockey game... so on to bowling!!! We had a blast, mom came up with a new nick name for Steve... Stryker! haha... and it wasn't because he got even one strike! ;) 

Grandma helped setup the Christmas tree and do the decorations

Meeko and Grandma have a special bond 

My 10 month old baby on her new walker toy from Grandma! Where has the time gone!!!

Mom and I went on a few hikes... this is her element!!!

Love you MOM!!!! Miss you already and I think nature is calling you back and maybe some others as well!!! 

Hike to the lake

Grandma and Grandpa come to visit

Last weekend, My mother and father in law came for a quick visit... it was perfect! We had such a nice time together. Steve has continued to be super busy at work, so was working the first couple of days, but was able to boat him and his dad over to his job site on Thetis island and Patrice and I were able to have some nice visiting time and play time with the girls. On Saturday Steve and Tom took the girls out on the boat fishing and prawning while Patrice, Amara and I went shopping. It was so nice... I really miss family so much!!! 

Sunday we slept in a bit, watched a sermon together from our church back in Calgary and then went to our favorite restaurant Genoa Bay for delicious brunch. It was the only time we snapped photos. 

I am so very grateful for such loving, caring in-laws, who are so sweet and so generous and helpful! 

Danika has been curious and asking me about 'love languages' and the one night she stated that Grandma's love language was spending special time together. Such a blessing! 

Beautiful lady... inside and out! So blessed to have her in my life!

Such a loving, caring man... he was in my kitchen 90% of the time either cooking or cleaning and making us such delicious, healthy meals! So giving of his time!

Everybody smile!

Such special memories!

The mainland

The day after Halloween we headed over to maple ridge on the mainland to spend he weekend with the Carruther family- our old pastor family from warmland. We have kept in good touch with them when they pastored a church near salmon arm. And now they've moved to maple ridge. They've been wanting Steve to come over and share his testimony for awhile so we finally had the opportunity to get away.

It took us 5 hours to get over and we got there in time for their youngest daughters surprise birthday. Tammy went all out for the party. Minnie Mouse everything and she planned the amazing race for the kids to run around town. The girls had a blast.

The next morning Steve and I were woken up by 2 little girls- Danika and Jolie at 5:50am and they hadn't gone to sleep yet!!! Saturday was miserable for Danika she couldn't even function so we put her to bed and she slept the day away. 

We had a nice day, Tammy and I did a bit of shopping and a hike up the mountain behind there house. Sunday morning we headed to their church where Steve shared his testimony. He was very comfortable up in front of the church and spoke and shared how God has healed him and the work he has done and put out the challenge to live sold out lives to God and the impossible can be possible only through Him! I was very proud of him. 

After church we headed to the Vancouver aquarium where Steve and I have always wanted to go. It was pretty neat. The highlight was the beluga whale show and the 4D show. The girls loved it! They watched the show 3 times in a row!

Excited girls on the way to the aqaurium

Wonderful Tammy giving me a break... and I still follow her around with a camera!

The ride home was awful! We got to the ferry just as it pulled away. So we waited in horseshoe bay and then the kids were miserable on the ferry! It was a looooong ride home! 😩

We were all thankful to be home in our own beds and it took us 3 days to recoop after the weekend. We have no choice but to be home bodies with 3 little munchkins. 

Amara is going through a rough patch the last few weeks. Her easy going nature has disappeared and napping has been non existent!

A few photos from my camera...

Excited to get off the island for the weekend!

Jolie's amazing cake her mom made... even made the fondant!

Girls with attitude!

Pretty amazing creatures... we sat in the splash zone... not too smart!

Good buddies!

Happy Halloween!!!

 I wasn't too prepared this year for Halloween and I don't like the holiday for what it stands for but the kids really enjoy the trick or treating. So after school we made a few fun decorations. A quick spider poster and some hanging ghosts out of bags. The girls did really good! The girls had so much fun dressing up and we went out trick or treating with a friend. I love crofton- we ran into so many friends and the girls had so much fun! Here are a few pics from the afternoon! 

Water slides

Today will go down in history for the Fitzpatrick family. It was the first time the girls went down the water slides at the duncan pool. Rules are different than in Alberta and you are not allowed to go down the water slide with yourchildren so ours have never gone as they are quite intimidating. But enough was enough and the girls have been begging to go to the pool so I said we could only go if they went on the waterside. They were both terrified, but I promised once they went down they would never stop... And I was right! We were so proud of them!!! They both came down grinning ear to ear and we couldn't stop them the rest of the night! We sat in the hot tub with amara and watched them. They both only did the red one until adessa decided to do the pitch black one. And wouldn't stop that one. Danika would not do it! Until the very end when I told her she would regret it- and so she went on after quite a bit prodding from me and loved that one as well!  Amara loved the pool. We spent a couple hours in without a cry from my baby. She loved the lazy river. Afterwards we did a stop at subway for the girls favorite... Egg, cheese and veggies on flat bread. Such a good, quick, cheap meal.

It was a great day... Didn't take any photos at the pool, but am writing this quick post while starting a movie and drinking mimosas with my best friend! Cheers! 

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!!!