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!!!

Blink of an Eye

Summer is over! It was full and so much fun. Beginning of summer the girls were in swim lessons at the crofton outdoor pool. They both had there best friends in there lessons and so it was basically one on one. They both passed and had so much fun. Definitely will be doing that again next summer, even though it was every day for 2 weeks. The first 2 weeks of summer were gorgeous and almost every day after lessons we stayed for public swim, so Amara had her first time in the pool and loved every moment!

We got our fourth and *final* boat... and she is a beauty! It is a boat Steve doesn't have to put any extra time or money into it and it has a bunch of extra bells and whistles. We are very happy with it and it has been awesome taking out all our visitors on the water and showing them islands! 

My mom, dad, brother and his wife road tripped out at the end of July and we went over to Ucluelet for a few nights. It was freezing and foggy but we still had a blast surfing, body surfing and hot tubbing at our cabin. 

Adessa LOVED body boarding... much more into than the older sister. Danika was pretty freaked out and it didn't help that her wet suit was too small on her. She much preferred beach combing. 

Ucluelet... my dad is a rock star surfer! 

The brother in laws

Meeko surfing it up

The best... seriously such a selfless trooper, she spent 2 days freezing on the beach with all the kids while we surfed! Mom you're amazing! xoxo 

God's beauty never ceases to amaze me!

Auntie Nikayla

Special memories at the beach with Uncle Joel

The girls and I road tripped back with my family to Calgary for 2.5 weeks and spent the time at my sisters place. The morning we woke up it was Adessa's 4th birthday! My how time flies... this little girl has grown up much too quickly!

Meeting Granny for the first time! Amara does not like to cuddle like Adessa did, she is a strong little thing that wants to stand and look around the whole time. 

We took about 50 of these... this was the best one! Grandma and Grandpa with all their grandchildren!

Granny and the girls!

Amara meeting her other Granny, she had us over for a yummy lunch. Unfortunately the kids were done at this point!

Trying to get a nice photo in their sunday best... no luck!

SO many special memories with their cousins... such an amazing trip!

My beautiful, amazing sister who was so helpful to me with the kids and opened up her house to us for 2 whole weeks. Amazing meals, and so much fun every day! 

We got to see Steve's parents and sisters for one day, as they just got home from Newfoundland. It was so nice to see them, but way too quick of a visit!

My sister in law Amy and Niece Emilie drove home with us. 16 hours straight in one day... Emilie was my saving grace on the road trip, she helped out SO much with the girls and kept them fed and happy!

We missed daddy SO much... never allowed to be apart for 2.5 weeks ever again!!! He worked his bum off while we were off vacationing, best hubby ever!

My baby growing much too quickly! She started sitting up on her own while we were in Calgary.