Spring Break Adventures!

Millie turned 2 and Quinny was invited to her birthday party! Alycia is a fairly new friend, but getting to know her has been great - and so handy that we both have little girls similar age. It was Quinny's first kid birthday party for someone who isn't her family! Alycia got the kids all canvases with their initial on them that they could paint. I forgot to take a picture of her finished Q product, but she had so much fun creating it!

Little Ivy was there with Kim. Another woman who I love getting to know and who is just so sweet!

Then cupcake decorating time! She was so focused on the task, wanting it to look "so awesome" as she said afterwards!

Cute little Millie! Happy 2nd birthday!

They are cute friends together who play really well! Millie opened up her new playdoh and let Q sit with her and they shared and played and giggled. Pretty cute.

Pulling her wagon down to the beach. She loves walking the boardwalk

The tide was quite far out and I made the mistake of walking far out there... she followed and I realized too late that the sand was super soft and like quick sand. I lost a shoe that I had to pull out, and then her boot came off and she fell in the mud. For a kid who does not like being dirty, this was quite stressful. Jon tried to distract her by saying "hey lets flip this rock and find some crabs" which is something she usually loves to do. Nope, still crying.

But pretty quickly he got her attention and she wanted to see and hold the crabs

She cheered up and we were able to finish playing and then she got into the wagon and home we went! We changed her pants and then just played at home, and no one was really feeling too motivated or hungry.

So that led to me not making dinner which NEVER happens. Finally, around 630 (which just makes it so much more ironic because we ALWAYS eat dinner and its always before 530) I finally asked her and Jon if they wanted a smoothie with me for dinner. They said yes so I pulled all the stuff out and got one all ready. Then disaster struck. The blade for the Nutribullet was sitting in the base and I reached for it (so I could screw it onto the smoothie cup) at the same time I plugged it in. Turns out that the Nurtibullet blade doesnt need to be pushed down or locked in place to start. It just starts right away on its own. My fingers got in there and it was gross. There is a second delay before it really starts going fast, and we are pretty sure that that is what saved my finger. That blade could have and would have taken my finger off NO problem if it was going full speed. Thank you God for not allowing that to happen! I grabbed my hand and right away felt woozy and Jon realized pretty quick what had happened (I was dead silent... Always in situations where most people would react or scream or something, I always just go quiet. I am not who you want around in an emergency! I lose the ability to think!). I muttered something about being pretty sure I lost the tip of my finger... I was in shock and I didn't feel any pain, so somehow I figured that meant that my finger was gone haha. Jon grabbed my hand and got it under water and assessed them and told me it wasn't that bad. That's when I finally felt it and IT HURT. I started thinking about what just happened and how lucky I am and I almost fainted... Jon had to hold me up. Dramatic, I KNOW! Again,  you dont want me around in an emergency situation! haha! He grabbed a cloth and got me to apply pressure and called Dixie and off we went to drop Q off and then head to emergency to see if it needed stitches.

This family group text that Jon sent to my family made me laugh later on. "What the heck is she doing with her hand in the blender??" and "That's sick!" are my favorites

Nurse and Doctor both thought I was insane and then gave me a tetanus shot and told me that they were deep, but too small for stitches, so glue it was. I had 13 cuts in total! 5 that were bad and the rest were smaller and not as deep. All wrapped up and ready to go home

And then this not that long later. Sigh! So gross. I hate blood so much.

Jon took this at Emerg... not a great picture because you can't see them all. (the most painful one is on the inside of the pointer finger) but you get the gist. Again, really not bad at all considering it was a NUTRIBULLET BLADE! My finger was super swollen and really bruised also... so swollen that it took a few days before I could bend it again. SICK

The next day was bright and beautiful so we headed to Chemainus to meet Mary and Ashley and all the kids at the park and beach! Ashley thought ahead and brought all her sand toys. Q right away got to work filling a bucket

Ady still had a runny nose and a little cough... poor girl can't seem to shake it! But she wanted in the water so badly even after Mary said no repeatedly... finally Mary gave in and took off her shoes and pants and in she went. I love how chilled out she is. Ady was over the moon happy about going in the water

Alistair too got right in there and got all wet. Brave kids! They had a lot of fun playing in the sunshine

Jon sent us this during the day - hiking on the mountain with Jake! He borrowed him for a day from Ashley to take up him there and they both loved it. We miss Jake and it really is hard for me sometimes to not have him. But he's happy and doing well and they love him. It's really nice that Jon can still take him up the mountain! Good exercise for Jake and it makes Jon feel better because he would alert him of any wildlife!

We sent this to Shayna one day... she says to me while I'm on the phone with Shayna "mama, I just like my shirt better like this". haha! Okay goofball. And all the drawers and cupboards are open in the whole kitchen because she said she was "making Elsa's castle to play in". Creative girl!!!

More park fun! Quinny, you REALLY cute. But more than that, you have the best sense of humor and you are a really sweet and loving little girl. You look out for your friends, and take care of them and you are tender and sweet. You are also firey and intense and strong-willed, but those are all good things too. You will stay back in a big group and just observe and you don't miss a thing. But once you feel comfortable, you get right in there. You aren't the loudest person in a room, but you also aren't the quietest. You are talkative and adventurous but also shy at times. You have big ideas and you like people to do things your way, but you also play really well with your friends. You are a VERY good listener and you obey your Mommy and Daddy quite well (unless you are in a 'mood'... when there is a mood happening, no one can tell you anything. Those are our harder days, but they are pretty far between). You seem to change every single day, I can barely keep up! But you love bags and carrying bags/purses/baskets around carrying all your treasures. You think it's funny to make silly faces when I want to take a picture of you, and you tell us that "my legs just can't work" when you want us to pick you up. You make us laugh ALL the time (except in the middle of the night... we are having issues with getting you to sleep in your own bed all night long... you like to wake up in the middle and come sleep with us. We love the snuggles, but our bed just isn't big enough for all of us!) and you talk so well for a kid your age. You catch on to things quickly, and are quite bright. You can count to 11 and you know all the words to a lot of different songs and you love to sing them at random times. You love all things "princesses" yet garbage day makes you so excited because you love the big trucks. I could go on and on, but mostly, you are just a really beautiful soul who makes people laugh and who brightens up a room with your spirit. You are such a joy.

Start of Spring Break

Aimee sent me this the morning after their sleepover. Happy girl, having her Auntie all to herself! Sleepovers with my Aunties when I was growing up were such a highlight. I love that she has Aunties to do the same with!

The rest of the family was still in Kauai and we were getting daily pictures, which Q loved. So we went to the park and she right away starts digging and says "I making sandcastle like my Papa and Kenna" which I thought was totally adorable!

Tea Party Time! What a good Daddy, sitting at the "baby" table drinking the "tea" that his girl made him

My phone started dinging, meaning that my daily family group texts from Tim were coming in with pictures from their adventures that day. As soon as she heard it, she grabbed her phone and says "I text my Nannie too!"

The Easson's texted and asked if we wanted to have a family movie night with them. So we went over in our PJs and got our snacks all organized and all sat to watch the Good Dinosaur together (not recommended! Weird and not great). But the girls were thrilled to be together watching a movie!

At one point a snake comes down and he is bright red with freaky eyes and huge fangs and he tries to attack the main character... that was when Q went from the ground to sitting between us. Look at how she is touching each of us. She is such a sweetie! Mary asked if she should fast forward a little and skip that part and she responded with "No thank you Mary, I ok with my Mommy and Dad". Melt!

Dancing at the end of the movie to the credits. This is Quinny's favorite part of most movies and she got Ady up and dancing around. They are so cute.

Afterwards when we said it was time to go, Quinnlyn ran into Adalee's room, and both girls jumped into the bed like this and pretended to fall asleep. What hams they are!!! One day they can have a sleepover! 

I haven't taken a picture of Jon leading worship in a while, so I tried to sneak one... it didn't turn out very well. But I still wanted to put it up here because he is doing such great work here. Those are all youth group kids up there with him, and he is just such a good leader. He is thoughtful and mindful about the songs he picks for the church, and he is kind and gentle when it comes to teaching these youth what it means to lead people in worship. So proud of him.

Speaking of the youth, that night we invited Elijah and Hannah over for games night. So fun to hang out with them in a relaxed environment just being silly and having a good time. Love these kids. 

Camp Night

Before I get into camp night, let me share this picture that I took of her that totally made me laugh. She is trying to shoot hoops, and cannot figure out why her ball won't go in the net. Totally unaware that for now, she has shrimpy legs. She eventually turns to me and says "Mom! Lift me up there!" and wasn't impressed when she still couldnt get it in even after I lifted her haha!

Librarian came to MMO and Jen took this picture. So many good things here - Ady sitting in the corner, reading a separate book with Megan (who is the toddler whisper), the patient librarian with a kid climbing on her, and Q sitting on Ashley, who is happy for the cuddles and just so kind with the kids. Love this!

She has been so art these days - colouring and painting and stickers and anything she can make. I recently showed her glitter glue and I thought she may pee her pants with excitement haha

Friday of Camp Night Jon took Q down to Victoria with him at lunchtime, because he had to and help set up, and I had to work that afternoon. Hanna met him on the highway and took Q for the afternoon. She said they had a great time together! Hanna is always so eager to babysit and loves Quinnybear SO much, but the distance often makes it hard for us to take her up on her offers! So it was really nice for everyone that this worked out! They played at the park in the rain and ate at Subway, and had lots of fun!

Then Hanna dropped Q off at Aimee and Calea's and Aimee watched her overnight. We figured that would be easiest so that I could take in some of camp night once I got down, and we wouldn't have to wake her up to take her home. And Aimee seemed excited for a sleepover and also eager to have her. I love that we have family who are willing and excited to help us out and hang out with her once and while when we need it! Its such a good gift. They watched Beauty and the Beast, which Q loved since she loves EVERYTHING princesses! She is so crazy for princesses right now, and she came home talking all about Belle. Aimee said she was so great and went to bed awesome and was fun to have around. First sleepover a success! (thats also the first time she has slept anywhere not with us or with tim/lois)

I drove down after my shift and got there as the night was starting and right away saw this guy and as always he made us laugh and him and Jon had a great talk

Wildside represented! (on that note, Wildside registration is doing amazing! So nice to see this program really gaining traction and growing in popularity)

Bedtime Pic! Cuties!

Classic!

They had a great turnout, and the boys ran a fun night! I love watching this team work and do what they are clearly very good at.

FUN!

Sharon texted and said that she was out with her sister and that they were going to get dessert and asked if I would want to join! YES PLEASE! I love seeing these two together - they are so similar and both just so lovely! It was a quick but fun outing!

Cleanup took forever (lots of people standing around and visiting and not super eager to clean and get out...I was also starving so maybe that made it take longer?! haha). I hadn't eaten dinner because Jon and I had planned to go out after camp night, but by the time cleanup was over, I WAS STARVING! The date night we had originally planned wasn't going to work out since it was too late, so we invited two of our favorite camp "kids" and their husbands to come eat with us. We went to Bin 4 for half price burgers but the line was SO LONG and a 45 min wait! No thanks! So we headed over to Red Robins and got food and laughed a lot. Its so nice to see these girls with men who love them and to see their marriages flourishing. Such special people to us. Also, it was after midnight when we were done, and it felt so weird to be out that late, and to be kidless! It was a good night all around!

Dinner Date at Nana's

I am a bit behind! Tuesday last week started with a hike on Maple Mountain with Mary and our girls. It was a gorgeous day out and the girls were awesome. They were on our backs for most of it, and then walked the last bit and shared an apple like best friends do :) We hit up the park in Crofton afterwards to let them run around and play together.

She is the best. She runs around with the girls and pushes their teeter toter and is just so fun. Such a good mama

I was catching Ady at the bottom of the slide and then she wanted to switch and catch me inside. This girl is so sweet and I love her so much! It's fun to watch her grow and see her and Quinny's friendship

Nana called us at lunchtime and asked us to come down for dinner - she has Aimee and Calea over every Tuesday and takes Luke and Care meals when she can, and she told us that she would like us to come down too and eat with her. I thought it was so sweet!!! Tuesdays at hard since its youth group night, so Jon of course couldn't come, and usually I like to be at youth too. But this felt important and I was so touched that she called and asked us to come, so Quinny and I made the drive down. It was so lovely to see her and my sisters in law! Aren't they both so pretty?! 

Quinny was so cute and giving Nana tons of love. She ate lots of dinner and then got into her pjs and gave Nana some cuddles and played on the couch. Nana was loving it! They were very sweet together

Big hugs for her Great Nana! Seriously, so cute!!!

Being silly with Auntie KK

And totally passed out in the car. I took this once we got home because it was just so funny - she was drooling and snoring so loud! I got her out of the car seat and took her shoes off and put her into her bed all without her waking up once. That is a tired girl!!! Must have been a great day :)