Christmas highlights!

My Lil Sunshine Turns 6!!!

My beautiful girl turned 6 this week and so on Monday we had a special "Frozen" themed party for her. Summer is always tricky having parties so only 3 of her friends could make it, but so did 2 of the sisters, so it was a nice sized little party. We made some yummy cupcakes for the party, had pancakes and whipped cream, made fruit loop necklaces, did a scavenger hunt where the end prize was matching Frozen nighties... a major highlight for all!  Adessa got so spoiled with so much lego! So she has been busy putting those sets together this week... she surprises me with how good she is at putting them together! 

This little girl is one special girl and I am SO blessed to be her mommy. Seriously... she makes us all laugh every single day and has the best one liners. I don't even know where she gets them from! But her mind is always thinking. 

She is a strong willed little girl and knows what she wants in life. Her favorite food is candy and her favorite color is purple... as I was informed at her party. She makes friends with everyone she meets and is so kind to all! I will often find her sitting on the floor 

Emilie came home with us from camping for a 5 days visit and then flew home by herself for the first time! During her time here we had so much fun. She is almost 12... and such a sweet girl. Danika came to me after the first day and said, "Emilie is such a nice girl, she is one of my very best friends." We are blessed! She was also so helpful and kept the girls occupied for many hours. On her last day we did a chemainus day... to the ocean, candy store and bakery! Emilie wanted to buy both the girls a box of candy and in the bottom of Adessas was a 1 dollar bill to spend back at the candy store. VBS also started for the week and Emilie went the first night with the girls. It was put on in the big church in Duncan and they did an amazing job! A bit different as it ran from 6-8:30 pm which ended up being great as they had 50 volunteers and 175 children!

Camping Fitzpatrick style!

We had such a wonderful week of camping with the whole family. We drove up to Salmon Arm and re stocked our supplies before heading to the Shuswap Provincial Park. It was a gorgeous campsite... absolutely massive. The sites were large and very private and we had one right next to a washroom. So many good memories made with everyone again and it was soooo good to see our little 1 year old nephew Caleb, who we have only met when he was 1 month old. He is such a good boy and so content! But we realized The last time we were together was over a year ago!

We ended up picking up a propane fire in Salmon arm as there are fire bans and what is camping without a fire?! It was so nice when we arrived at the campsite... Tom and Patrice set up their GIANT 10 person tent for us, so that was so nice. We set up our little house for the week and then Steves sister Sarah and Leah and Zach arrived. 

The only complaint about the campsite was how dirty the sites were. Everything was covered in a coating of dust... including my children. But we still made the most of it and one time we bathed the little ones in a rubbermaid, or we all went to the showers!

We put the boat in the water a few times and Caleb went for his first tube ride!

Such a sweet boy!

Beach days in the hot sun!

This girl did pretty good, but it was so hot at night time it was hard putting her to sleep and for her to nap. 

The one morning we were calling Amara "orphan Annie" as her hair was a mat, she had dirt all over her and was shoveling pancakes with two fists into her mouth!

On the last day it was a bit cooler, so we packed up and headed to Salmon arm. We stopped at my childhood favorite place- Margaret Falls for a hike to the waterfalls and then went to the waterslides in Salmon Arm. The girls had a blast! Even Amara loved going on the huge waterslides with us, until Steve took her down the crazy one (which I told him to! oops!) And then shot off the bottom and Amara went under... not wanting to do it again! 

The Ferry ride home was breath taking. We went a different route this time from Tswassen to Victoria, and we saw orca whales and porpoises! It was amazing! And we got to take Emilie home with us for 5 days!