Hike

The past couple of weeks I haven't gotten outside to hike too much due to the weather, but today I packed up adessa and amara and we headed out on my new favorite hike. We leave the house go up around maple mountain, come out at Osborne bay and walk home. It takes anywhere from 1 hour to 2, depending on who is with me. Today it was on the latter as adessa hiked half the time and explored. She found a couple huge worms... 

 And held  onto them for quite some time. She put one in each hand while she sat on the edge of the stroller and giggled her head off because they were "tickling her hands!" She is amazing... I hope she never finds them gross and stays my little explorer! Half way through the hike meeko took off... I took my eyes off him for a minute and he disappeared! We literally yelled for 20 minutes and I thought hed been eaten by a cougar. Adessa and I started to pray and we started walking away and he dashed out right behind us! Must have found something to eat! Little stinker! I am thankful he was ok, but it just shows that he still needs exercise every day, because when he is well exercised he stays close. I have such a love-hate relationship with him at the moment. He is blowing out his winter coat so I don't want him inside, because amara tries to eat his fur balls, but I feel guilty because I don't let him in and he doesn't get much exercise at the moment because amara still naps twice a day! But oh well... He is invited to a birthday party tomorrow so he is very loved still! 

Dr. Seuss Day

Yesterday I ran into a mom from Danika's school and she mentioned it was dr Seuss day Friday! I remember doing it last year and still had the costume for the cat in the hat but Danika really wanted to be Cindy Lou who. So this morning I grabbed an empty water bottle out of recycling and whipped up the hairstyle. It was easier than I thought! We never had time to do up a costume and I already packed up her red cape, and after ripping through a few boxes I gave up. But I think she turned out pretty darn cute! 

Snow week!

This past week the island was shocked with a crazy snowfall. Last weekend it started and the girls woke up both Saturday and Sunday morning, got their snowsuits on and headed to the hill behind our house to toboggan their mornings away. I love that I can see them from the house! Saturday our babysitter, Meagan offered to take the girls to the swimming pool at the chemainus hotel. It was wonderful! Steve and I are slowly trying to pack up the house to list it, so to have a few hours to ourselves with only one child was such a treat. We cooked up some appies for dinner, drank wine and packed up!

Monday morning we were woken up by squealing girls as it had snowed all night...

Now to most albertans you wouldn't think it was a big deal, but here it was a snow day!!! The kids were ecstatic! They bundled up and played the day away, built snowmen, an igloo and tobogganed all day. Meagan came over in the afternoon and played with them and then brought movies, popcorn and whipped cream for their hot chocolate! It was a great snow day. There was tons of snow, and you could actually stay out all day because it was warm enough.

The snowman Danika, Adessa and a few neighborhood kids made. Frosty didn't end well... as Adessa ate his nose and Meeko jumped on it and it fell over. Danika wasn't too happy!

My happy baby... she sat in her little toboggan and got pulled up and down the street and was perfectly content!

Meeko was losing his mind! He LOVED the snow! and Chasing the toboggans down the hill!

Amara and I watching from inside! 

It was a super short week of school for Danika as her school is doing swim lessons for the kids Tuesdays and Thursdays. And then Wednesday was a half day with a child led, p/t interview. Danika seems to be doing quite well. She is were she is supposed to be for grade 2, but still needs to work quite hard. Her happy reading club said she could graduate out of the extra help but Danika's teacher reccomended to keep her in as it is 5 days a week of extra help for Danika and she is doing well in it. I am very happy that she gets to stay in as it is boosting her confidence in her reading ability. 

We do continually need to work on her reading and math, but we are getting there! 

Friday was no school, so the girls and I had a much needed home day. However it didn't last long until I was losing my mind! I am finding it very stressful trying to pack up the house, having a husband work full time from our kitchen table and trying to raise 3 kids! And things around here have been high stress with Steve's work as one of his clients have been threatening to sue! 😞 my poor husband! 

It wasn't long until I packed up the kiddos and dog and went for a long walk to the ocean... My happy place!

The girls can fight like cats and dogs at home, but there is something about being outside and exploring that makes them so happy! It was a gorgeous day and the snow is almost all gone! 

Adessa had a rough day... We were walking up the street and she looked back and walked right into a pole and then after lunch she fell off her stool and smashed her chin on amaras high chair and bit her tongue in 3 different spots. Poor kid... So I ran out for Popsicles, but it seems like nowadays anything we eat, amara has to eat too... So she had a bite of her first Popsicle!

There is a little update of our crazy little lives! 

Amara Turns 1!

Last minute I decided to throw Amara a "little" birthday party... but got a bit carried away and invited 10 moms to my house for a little after school get together. But after I invited I realized that each mom comes with 2-3 children. And so I was fortunate enough to rent out our church building to hold her little party. It was so fun and very stress- free. As I was able to rent the church for $10 an hour, got to set up our bouncy castle and Thrifty's gives free birthday cakes for the first birthdays. So I threw together a veggie try, our babysitters mom brought another and we called it a party. I am so very blessed with so many wonderful friends!!!

I seriously cannot believe that she is already 1... this year has truly zipped by in a blur! 

My little bundle of JOY!!!

Sharon brought me a Starbucks coffee as she said that we should be celebrating the mother who made it through a year with 3 children as the baby doesn't know the difference yet! I like that philosophy! ;) 

YAY... Steve was able to take a bit of time off work and come for the cake eating!

It took her awhile but once she squished the piece of cake between her fingers it disappeared quickly!

And it's gone!!! 

So many sweet little girls at the party, all wanting to help Amara open her presents!



AMARA STATS...

- She weighs approximately 16.5 lbs
- She is short... she is still wearing her 6-9 month old clothing, a very petite little thing
- She is so very happy
- She is very ticklish, especially under her neck
- Big sister, Adessa loves to tickle her
- She has 4 teeth on the top and 2 on the bottom, and she likes to grind them... ick!
- She LOVES to eat and only will eat if she feeds herself
- Her favorite food is bananas and now cake!
- She has thrown her first temper tantrums this week... once over an ice cream cone that she wanted SO bad and another time she got my cell phone and I took it away... full out temper tantrums, thrown herself on the floor, kicking and screaming.
- She has rolled her eyes at us several times... oh no Steve... just you wait! ;)
- She is crawling everywhere! Pulling herself up on everything and letting go to see how long she can stand before falling.
- She has recently pointed out puppies while reading story books.
- She sleeps 12 hours at night, but still wakes up once to nurse
-Yes... I am still nursing
- She loves her big sisters more than anything, no one makes her smile like them!
- Her vocabulary includes- Mama, dada and all sorts of sounds
- She still naps for an hour in the morning and 1-2 hours in the afternoon
- She is an excellent traveler, just content to sit in the van as long as we need her to!
- She LOVES her soother... our first child who does
- She has been such an amazing blessing to our family and we cannot imagine our lives without her! 

Mexico trip....

So today is the day to leave for Mexico... I didn't sleep at all from fear of missing the alarm clock and amara wakin up to nurse and adessa goin to the bathroom. So I got up at 5:30 got everyone ready, cleaned up the hous and we were on the road by 7 am. Right on time! However when we got to the airport we discovered that our flight has been delayed 4 hours!!! And we aren't even quite sure why- apparently it was still in Mexico or something! So with our wonderful friends Amelia and Nathan Lowe who met is at the airport to take our van we went for our free voucher breakfast at white spot within the airport. But you can only sit so long before everyone goes stir crazy! So we got up and walked around awhile which led us to 10:30 am... When we were supposed to be boarding!!! Our friends the lowes are house sitting near the airport so invited us over for a bit- which we happily obliged! 

It is a gorgeous old heritage home with ocean view and i am sitting here on the couch looking at this.... 

I just put amara down to nap in a playpen already set up and the girls are happily playing with the numerous toys! 

It is so awesome how God always provides for us! So as upset as I am by the delay in making this an extra extra long day and not arriving until super late... We will make the best of it as He always provides for us!!! Hopefully there are no more delays and both girls sleep on the airplane and hopefully my next post will be in Mexico!!!! 

Trip update... Back at the airport for 1 pm to go through customs, flight delayed another 1.5 hrs!!! Argh!! So we are sitting at the airport in the play area with the girls for 2.5 hrs 😩 

The lady at the gift shop recommended this book... So hopefully I get a chance to sip on my chai and read while breathing deeply... This is going to be a looooong day!!!! 

No school today!

Today was a day off of school for Danika. We actually didn't send Adessa to school at all this week because we are leaving for Mexico in 2 sleeps. And there is a nasty flu going around the school. We are getting so very excited with squeals every morning this week as the countdown is on! 

I have been slowly packing all week and trying to organize the house. Packing for a family of five is quite the feat, it has been challenging trying to pack for 2 weeks away with an infant. 

We have been trying to take meeko for lots of walks this week and today we went out to the dog park and as we pulled up there was a huge frenzy with a pit bull attacking a lady's dog who we always see there. It was scary, eventually they pulled the dog off and the lady drove off quickly quite upset with the dog. I was so thankful we weren't out at that time! 

It was a fun walk... I love watching my girls play outside together as they have been fighting a lot at home, but outside they seem to forget their annoyances with one another and just have fun.

Big sister holding her 'baby sister'

Danika's 'present' to Adessa in their home at the beach

This Kid is just awesome

Whenever we walk to the beach at Osborne Bay the girls pretend this area is their house... I stay at the beach and play fetch with Meeko during this time!

Cool fog on the ocean... it was a lovely afternoon!

Amara is 11 months old and she just realized that she could start moving around her crib and for the past 2 weeks I have found her sitting up in it and sleeping on her tummy. It took her awhile to figure it out, but now that she has she is so proud of herself! 

She is also picking up speed with her crawling and trying to follow me around the house, but has a forehead with bruises because her head gets going ahead of her hands, poor little girl! 

My morning greeter... such a happy baby!

Pizza party with the girls. Amara is trying to eat the pizza!

I finally got around to making Amara's blanket. It took me FOREVER to remember how to work my sewing machine... it has been awhile but I was shocked not to be able to remember... thank goodness for youtube!

The first 2 have their blankets that they are attached to... I am hoping Amara finds comfort with this one!

Amara's hair every morning and after naps. We have had to cut out a few of her dreadlocks, but it is hard to keep on top of untangling them!