Fitzpatricks Arrive

Last week Tom and Patrice came over and brought Emilie with them. We had a nice couple of days before the rest of the Fitzpatrick family arrived. We went for a few walks and Tom went to work with Steve and helped him finish off a job before we went away for the weekend.

The completed front landing

Turned out beautifully

Our walk with Grandma and Emilie to the ocean

Grandma

Fun, toothless times on the tire swing!

Wedding Time!

This summer we were invited to 7 weddings, and unfortunately could only make it to one of them. It was for our good friends Nathan and Amelia. Steve worked at Camp Qwanoes with Nathan for a year and Amelia was there in the summer and fell in love with our girls. So last weekend they tied the knot and invited the whole Fitzpatrick family to enjoy their special day.

It was perfect, beautiful weather, at a golf course in Victoria and the bride was stunning. She is one of those girls who always has a smile on her face and spills joy out onto others. Steve had a lot of fun preparing for the festivities and said it was the most easy going, fun wedding he has been in! The girls did so well, we were so proud of them, and we had so many people come up to us and tell us how well behaved our girls were. Adessa was so good and when the dance began she was the life of the party! She stood in the middle of the dance floor and kept spinning in circles, and everyone was taking turns catching her, what a girl!

Danika and Adessa with Amelia and Nathan

She LOVED swishing the dress back and forth

She was such a happy girl and we didn't even leave until 10pm! Hopefully the punch wasn't spiked?! haha

We are so happy for our friends and wish them a lifetime of happiness! :)

SLOW DOWN!

....That was the message I finally let sink in today. I always fill our days with things to accomplish, playdates, shopping trips, long walks with friends. But this past week has allowed me to re-focus on my priorities. The first few days of being sick, I was too sick to care about being busy, but the last few days as I have been on the mend I have been itching to be busy again and to socialize. Thinking we were almost all better yesterday, I started telling friends we could play soon. But last night Danika was up again for a couple of hours with my wonderful hubby taking care of her. Her little eyes were glued shut again, her cough was awful and she had another fever. This morning after a sleep-in I decided we needed to get out of the house for a little bit. So I packed the kids and the dog up and went over to the dog park in Crofton, where I can just let Meeko off his leash and he can do as he pleases. It was a wonderful walk, literally a breath of fresh air for all of us. The girls and I took our sweet time and just enjoyed the creation all around us. I had a bag so we decided to start a collection and find anything beautiful, neat or different to put into it. Adessa was fully into the game and found a lot of neat things to contribute. When we got down to the beach we were the only ones there and we continued our search of neat things. We put our feet in the water, spotted seals and crabs and just enjoyed one anther's company. I am so blessed to have my girls. And sometimes it takes totally slowling down to truly appreciate all of our blessings. My nature is to go hard all of the time and keep our days filled with things to do, but I believe God showed me that there needs to be time for rest, because it is in those times you can really see the hand of God and all the blessings he has poured out onto you. I just hope I can remember this all summer to take the time to slow down and enjoy lifes quiet moments with my girls, because time goes by so quickly!!

Not much going on

The past week we have been sick... very sick. On the bright side, it couldn't have happened at a better time! School ended, no visitors and Steve was off work to take care of us.

We caught a terrible cold. Danika has been fighting it for awhile(most likely picked up from preschool) but then all three of us girls caught it, and it included all symptoms. Poor Danika had pink eye and I pulled an all nighter taking care of her with her chills and fever. But thank God we are all on the mend and Steve hasn't caught it... we pray it stays that way! A peek at our most exciting moments of the week...

The girls sitting while grandma read them a book on skype

Adessa insisted on this get-up one evening...notice the drool/snot? Ya, there has been ALOT of laundry done this week!

My wonderful, thoughtful girlfriend dropped off this bouquet of flowers from her garden... plus a delicious home cooked meal!

One sunny afternoon after being trapped in the house we ventured out onto our new deck to paint! I think most of the paint ended up on Adessa or the deck (photos to come soon!)

Adessa was eating rope licorice which looked the exact same as her red paint brush... the 2 got mixed up often, but I just wasn't up for the fight.

Danika picked me this bouquet from our garden... she loved how they matched!

Our first salad from our garden... Danika and I were so proud!

Preschool Ceremony

Today was Danika's preschool ceremony. It was too sweet. They sang a bunch of songs they had been learning all year, told everyone what there favorite thing about preschool was, they prayed and showed a slide show of the year. Danika did so well, we were so proud of her, and she looked so beautiful! Grandma "Trice" sent DQ money for Danika, so Danika treated us all to ice cream after the ceremony. Adessa did very well, but prior to the ceremony starting her and Kailey were playing in front of the parents and when they realized they had an audience both of their shirts went over their heads and they showed off their belly buttons!

We were so thankful to have put Danika into preschool this year. She made some wonderful friends and had amazing teachers who really loved her. It was precious when Danika's teacher prayed for God's blessing on their lives as they grow up and she cried saying it was such a privilege to know our children.

She got a beautiful journal with her picture on it

The whole preschool class with Mrs. B and Mrs. N, Danika had only 11 in her class.

Mrs. B

Daddy and his big girl

'Great' Aunt and Uncle Come for a Visit

This past weekend my Aunt Dolores and Uncle Gary from Oregon came up the West coast and visited with us for a couple of days. The evening they arrived we took them out for a walk to the ocean and then came home for dinner and present opening. I was a little bit nervous about the visit as I have known my aunt and Uncle for the majority of my life as a child or teen. And to now be the one hosting, as an adult with my own family was a different feeling. We didn't see them a whole lot growing up as we lived so far apart, however I do have some awesome childhood memories of visiting their home in Oregon and doing some awesome trips and sightseeing. They are the most wonderful hosts, with such a gorgeous home. I also remember being spoiled endlessly with clothing. She would always bring up loads of clothing for us from the states, which was always exciting as it was different styles. Apparently Joel and Linsey liked to model their clothing, but I was never too keen on doing so! Surprise... I am still like that!
So it was only right that as Danika and Adessa opened bags full of clothing that they would have to put on a fashion show for us! Adessa was instantly into an outfit and Danika happily tried on her clothing as well. They all fit wonderfully and a few items to grow into as well. Great Grandma also had a clothing present for both of the girls, and everything was just perfect.
Auntie Dolores also brought up giant sticker sheets for the girls, which were a big hit.
Danika made a new best friend with her 'Great' Aunt as Dolores spent much of her time either coloring with Danika or playing in her sticker books. And the night they had to leave ended with some money for Danika for graduating from pre-school, Danika was pretty ecstatic!
On Monday we went over to Salt Spring Island for the afternoon to hike in Ruckle park, then strolled around downtown with ice cream cones. We went back home to watch the Canucks get their butts kicked, while eating steaks and sipping wine gifted by Dolores and Gary for our birthday dinner.

Adessa with a birthday present, she hadn't received one yet so she wasn't quite sure what to do!

Didn't take her too long to try the outfit on!

The girls with their Great Uncle and Great Aunt in their new clothes

Adessa trying to steal Aunties drink!

We had a great time visiting and catching up and are looking forward to the day we can take a road trip down to Oregon for a visit... we'll wait until Adessa gets a bit older first!

Birthday Party!

Danika received this book from Grandma and it had

her voice reading the book, Danika was so amazed and told me she almost cried because she missed grandma so much!

On Saturday Danika had her 5th birthday party. She specifically requested an all girls party and wanted just a few of her favorite friends. One girl couldn't make it and one little girls family forgot so there ended up being only 2 friends, but Danika didn't mind, she still had a blast. We set up the bouncy castle, the girls made there own fabric goodie bags, they played Danika's favorite game (a modified princess version of pin the tale on the donkey), ate birthday cake, opened presents and smashed a pinata.

And then since it was actually Steve's birthday we took him out for dinner to the white spot and had a wonderful time with the girls, Adessa sat still and other than calling out waitress 'grandma' things went pretty smoothly! All in all I would say it was a great day!

Danika with her birthday present from daddy and mommy and grandma and grandpa! She loved it! Notice her favorite new barbie (Rapunzel, from grandma!) sleeping in the bed.

By the end of the week Adessa perfected the birthday song... as she figured out that by singing the song it would end in birthday cake!