First day of Spring Break!

Monday kicked off the first day of Spring Break, and it was a great day! The sun was shining and it felt so warm! We planned skating with our life group at the Duncan arena. The girls were very excited. 

Steve and I both strapped on skates for the first time in YEARS. I was able to bring Amara onto the ice, so it was a nice excuse to have a stabilizer! 

My view for most of the time. Amara was totally content sitting in the stroller for the full hour and a half. 

Steve met us at the arena for his lunch break for a quick skate with his girls, and we packed a picnic lunch

Best buddies skating together

Caroline skating with the girls

Nicole and Rowan 

My Adessa Mattie... she improved so much from last year. We only went once last year and she lasted only 10 minutes on the ice. This year she spent the whole time on the ice... half on the stroller and the other half she was actually skating really well!

Danika was trying so hard... didn't want any help and could boogie quite quickly with the pusher.. and she let go of it and tried hard without it. She has improved a ton too!

In the evening instead of meeting with our life group to do our study we had our social night at the Brew Pub in Duncan. It was a really nice day out hanging with our group. The ladies in our group were trying to decide on a hobby we could all do together as the guys watch UFC fighting together and have all really gotten into fishing. So we decided that once a month we would get together and go for a long hike together, without kids. I am looking forward to it! 

Spring Ahead!

Today was lovely. We went to church, had some friends for lunch then packed up the family and went hiking up maple mountain on a new trail. We are pretty sure it takes you all the way to maple bay, but we weren't willing to try with the kids or we wouldn't have made it home.

The girls did incredible! We were on the trail for at least 2 hours, not once was there a complaint. The girls giggled and played, splashed around in the puddles and were best friends. It was wonderful! 

So happy Steve snapped this picture.... Me and my 3 girls, such special memories.

Daddy and his 2 big girls at the waterfall we found

My happy little sidekick

At the waterfall! 

We ran into Duncan afterwards to grab a few groceries and a $1.50 movie rental at Safeway. I love that box... Such a great deal! 

We came home and Steve grilled some steaks... It was such a gorgeous day! It was a great kick off to the next 2 weeks of spring break!  

Amara is such a little goof! She loves playing in the play room with her sisters, waving at everyone she sees and making funny faces in the window!

First pigtails!

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!