Happy Easter

After Care's party, we drove home and got Q to bed and then Jon had to drive to Nanaimo to go pick up my mom at midnight who flew in to visit for the week! Very happy faces for so late at night!

Yay! Welcome to our new home mom! 

Quinny woke up and right away wanted to go see Grandma. So we let her in there and say hi, and they were so cute together, so happy to be together. Then she realized that there were chocolates on the ground - I had set up a little Easter egg hunt for her. She grabbed the basket I left out for her and she got right to work collecting all those chocolates!

She was so focused, it was hilarious. We could barely even talk to her, because she was so set on what she was doing. She's little so I didn't do very many chocolates or make it very hard, but she seemed to love it! It was fun watching her. 

After she gathered up all the little eggs (and smarties) she noticed her Easter basket. Instead of candy and a bunny, I gave her a little stuffed Chase and Everest (Paw Patrol buddies) and a movie. Oh and an Easter dress, because every little girl should have a new Easter dress :) Then she sat with me and we read the story of Jesus' resurrection from her Children's Bible. We talked about Easter and why we celebrate and why is really is most exciting and important day. I like being able to have these conversations with her and having her ask questions in her innocent 2 year old way. We then had a really lazy and quiet day at home, just hanging out all together! We headed to Victoria after dinner and went to the service at Saanich and then slept over down there!

And the next day was the big Lampard/Hennekes Easter Hunt!

This is the best Easter hunt ever. So fun for the kids to do this! Quinny was so into it and searched hard!

I bought all the kids giant bubbles and hide them around the yard for them to find! We are all supposed to bring chocolates to contribute (pet peeve is when parents don't, RIGHT LUKE ;) so we had a bag of those too. But I was glad I brought the bubbles, the little people loved them

Family photo haha!

So thankful for this life that I have been given. I do my very best to not take it for granted and to delight in my family, as our Creator delights in me.

Cute little girl and her beautiful Grandma!

Hunting hard for those eggs!

Good job QuinnyBear!! 

Makenna was helping her, pointing out the eggs, and then when she found them, Q put them in Kenna's basket. What teamwork! Two brown haired beauties with matching big hearts!

Quinny with her Nannie and Papa! These two are so good to this little girl, she is crazy blessed to have them!! Look at those joyful faces... this picture makes me so happy. 

These are out of order a bit, but we stopped in Duncan on our way home that afternoon to pick up a few things. One of the things on the list - a new umbrella for this little one. She loves umbrellas and I have seen this one a few times - seeing it on sale now, it was time to get it for her! She opened it right away and sat really still after we told her she could have it but only in the cart. You never know when it might start raining inside Walmart...

Oh the love!

Look at her face as she spots some eggs in the trees. So fun to watch!

She has the best grandparents a little girl could ever ask for. I pray that she always knows how loved she is.

In different news, I started a new program called Healthy Role Models. Sharon showed it to me after she joined. The focus is on being strong and healthy, and I love that. They help with a eating plan full of ideas and have laid out workouts. You get as much from it as you are willing to put in. I feel pretty motivated. I have always for as long as I remember struggled with my weight and appearance and have never felt good or comfortable in my own skin. The past two years have been the worst though. I have fallen into terrible habits and laziness. I stopped being stopped and fell into the thinking that "I can't do it". My pain definately has played a factor - hard to be motivated to workout when you are in pain and everything hurts. But I also KNOW that I feel better when I am stronger and healthier. I have tried a few things over the past few years but nothing has been motivating enough for me to stick with it. What it boils down to is me and my thinking. I need a change in my mindset. I need to WANT to be healthy and be able to keep up with Quinnlyn. I need to want to respect my own body by what I put into it. This has become a heart and faith issue for me. I know that what I eat is not good for my body, but I choose it anyways. I know that I am not honoring God through my body by keeping it strong, but I choose to be weak anyways. That is blatant defiance and it is sinful behavior. I had a major breakdown recently and realized that this NEEDS to change. I need to do better and be better. It's not about being thin. It's about being strong and loving myself and letting my daughter see me sweat and use my muscles and treat my body with the love and respect that it deserves. All that being said, this program sounded like a beautiful gift handed to me at the exact right time. It started on Easter Monday, and after all the festivities, I had a migraine and as we drove home I wanted to cry, feeling so discouraged and disheartened that I was starting the program this way, missing out on Day 1 of the workouts. When we got home from Walmart, I went upstairs and put on my running shoes and workout clothes and told my family that I was doing the workouts with the follow along video. My mom got into her workout clothes too then and did it with me, cheering me on and helping me out with form and modifications. My reality is that I have a body that is in pain most of the time for most of the day. My knee, back and neck cause major problems for me. But they cannot hold me back from working hard. The harder I work and the stronger I get, the better my body will feel. My mom was kind and gracious with me, and showed me how to get the most of the workout and do it in a way that my body will respond to. My head was still hurting afterwards, but I felt way better and pretty proud that I did it. We made a meal plan and I felt ready to tackle the first of 12 weeks with this program. This was my post workout selfie, tired and sweaty, but pretty proud and in much better, silly spirits.