Fall Fair and Wedding Reception

Jon came home from his week at Wildside all jazzed up - he loves that place and would just run year long camps and guest groups if he could! haha. I'm glad he is doing something he loves. The Saturday after he came home, there was a board meeting for the IF in Victoria, and he wanted to be there, so I headed to the church Fall Fair on my own. I was asked to help out, doing pictures again, but the way we set it up this year was so much better and allowed for people to take their own pictures on their phones. I think we will do it again this way next year, and not have anyone man the booth. But anyways, I wasn't sure how busy I would be, and I wanted eyes on Q, so that she could still participate and have fun, but all our friends here were involved in the Fair! Yet another instant for the 900 thousandth time that I wished we were close to family who could take her for the day! People who have family minutes away to babysit whenever they need have no idea how lucky they are! Thankfully, Lois agreed to come up and hang out with Q for the 2 hours that I needed to run the booth - Tim had to work so she brought Aimee with. Mother in law to the rescue!

These two stopped by briefly before heading to Victoria for the meeting - Jinny was driving Jon so she was picking him up. I love these women and the role they each  play in our lives. They have the most beautiful souls and such are bright lights! 

LOVE my Mother-in Law and my Sister-in law!!!! I seriously married into the best family. Lois and Aimee always have our backs and are such amazing supports to us. Love them!!!!!

Cupcake walk! The whole Fall Fair is quite awesome - it is something our church does so well! We had a LOT of people from the community come out, which is the point, so thats so great!

She excels in her role as Outreach Deacon - she loves our community and has so many ideas on how to spread love and the Word. I learn a lot about what Christ-like love looks like by being her friend.

Samarah and her new husband Chris had a little wedding reception to celebrate with the people (like us!) who couldn't make it to the Ontario wedding. She wore her dress and looked so lovely!! I was glad we went and celebrated the start of their marriage. She has had quite the journey over the past few years - it is really good to see her settled and happy and content

Wearing her favorite party dress, and she brought her baby that has the matching dress. Adorable

Beauties!

They had these personalized tattoos that said their names and had their wedding flower - a sunflower! They were adorable. Q loved them and hit up the tattoo station a couple different times -  I think by the time we left, she had six or seven tattoos haha!

So much love for these girls. We have been through a lot together, and it is a priviledge to love them! We have an ongoing group text together where we catch up and share whats going on, but we need to have more face to face time together!

It was a lovely night, and had AMAZING food. So proud of Samarah and so excited for this next stage in her life!

Sticker chart, Dance, Swim Lessons!

We fell into a busy fall routine pretty quickly! It's funny how you can go from one type of busy to another. Sometimes I feel like I barely have time to think. But it's all good stuff, a good kind of busy! 

She is always pulling the blankets out and "setting them up" as she calls it, all over. She uses them to make stages so she can dance or do gymnastics, she makes beds for herself or for her babies, or she is covering her toys with them. Her love for blankets makes me laugh. Here is she one day with a bunch of her blankets all laid out over her little couch so that she had a "bed" to read her books on. She is so good at playing by herself and being creative!

Since summer, we've been having issues with sleep during the night. She likes us to be close to her while she falls asleep, and always wakes up in the night, wanting to come to our bed, or have one of us (usually Jon because he is amazing and gets up with her in the night) sleep with her. So I decided to make a sticker chart, and I filled a basket with little "prizes" - all little dollar store stuff that I knew she would like. When she sleeps in her own bed all night long, she gets a sticker. If she also wakes up dry, she gets another sticker. When she reaches five stickers, she gets to pick a prize. She's been potty trained forever - almost an entire year, but she still wears pull-ups to both nap time and bedtime because she pees in her sleep. So we decided to take away the nap time pull-up and see how she did. I have in the past stayed away from giving "rewards" for things - I am just a big on teaching her how to do things for the sake of doing them and being proud of herself, not just to be rewarded for it. But I was at a loss here, so I gave into the prize mentality! And to be honest, it has worked SO well! She bought into it right away, and was super excited about getting stickers, knowing that there was prizes to be had!

The first thing she picked was a microphone - she spent days afterwards putting on shows for us, and signing loudly into. She sings into it and starts her songs by saying "ladies and gentlemen! Are you ready?!" and we have to respond with "Ya!" and then she proceeds with "I am going to sing a song for you, called..." and then announces whatever song she is going to sing. It is SO funny. But also drives me crazy after the 1000th time in a day :) My personal favorite is when she says " a song for you called My Little Twinkle Star" which is what she calls "Twinkle twinkle little Star" haha! The ABC's are another go-to for her. What a kid

This is the prize chart. I used a loonie to make the circles and wrote "prize" in every fifth circle, so she can see when the prize is coming and how many more stickers she needs. It worked like a charm - within just a few nights, she was once again sleeping through the night, in her own bed. I think the craziness of summer, and how all over the place we are, and the inconsistency of it made her feel unsettled and unsure. Being back home is good for her, back in routine, and feeling safe and steady. I get that, I feel that way too. I would never tell her she can't sleep in our bed - when she is scared, or feeling lonely or sad, she is always allowed to come to us for comfort. I know I sleep so much better beside Jon when I am having a hard time, because it makes me feel safe and calm. Why wouldn't it be the same for her. But when it becomes a habit, and she comes in every night just because - that is what we are trying to break. And it seems to be working! For now at least. Things are always changing with a 3 year old :)

We also did go out before her next dance class and got her a dance outfit. She picked this one and it is so cute on her! She also got ballet shoes. She gets SO excited on Wednesdays when it is time to go to dance class! She is so into it and seems to really love it. I love watching her engage and learn things!

She is so cute. My goodness! Notice the girl in the background? She missed the first class and then came to the second one wearing street clothes like we did the first time... the next class, she also came in wearing a dance outfit. These little girls and their pink dance clothes!

Jon was at Wildside for a week, running a full program for Montessori's outdoor ed students. So we were running solo that week! It was Calea's birthday that wednesday, so we headed to Victoria for dinner after dance class without him. Quinny got Calea to put on music and started dancing - Quinny kept asking everyone to come dance with her, and soon enough she had almost everyone up there dancing! This family is so fun! The night ended abruptly for us though because Q lashed out and pinched Madi hard after having enough of Madi ignoring her and walking away all night whenever Quinny came close. Both sides are so hard! It's hard for me to see my kid hurting and sad, and it is hard for me when she does the hurting! I love both of these girls VERY much, and it is a deep prayer of mine that they figure it out. I worry about the air of competition that surrounds them, being in a family together when they are so close in age - I worry about everything, the worry wart that I am :) Growing pains as these two get older! But it was a fun night, and I am very glad we made the drive down to celebrate Calea.

Quinny also started a new program at the pool called... hmm the name seems to have escaped me at the moment. But its 1030-12 every Wednesday - they do 50 minutes of swimming, and then change and get dressed and then do 30 minutes in one of the side party rooms, eating snacks, playing and doing a craft. It is pretty awesome! And she has learned so much already. She is already a little water baby, and always has been - but its good for her to learn actual technique. She can now do the "starfish" and can put her head fully in water, and can blow bubbles. So proud! Its for ages 3-5 year olds, so she is one of the youngest, but with how tall and verbal she is, you would never guess that. She enjoys going and seems to have fun, but its not the same kind of joy that she has when its dance class time. But swimming lessons are important and she does like them, so we will continue on with them!

First Fall Weekend

We are at home one morning in September and she says to me "Mom! Take my funny pictures and send them to my Nannie. I will make her laugh because she loves me and says I am so silly!" So I pulled out my phone and she made all these poses. I was totally cracking up! I sent them to Lois and we hope it did indeed make her laugh :) I think it is so awesome when she thinks of different family members and wants to call them to say hi, or send them texts - it shows that she is thinking of them and really loves her family. That is definitely what I want from her!

She started a new dance class! I gave her a few options on what she could try this year, and she wanted to do dance and I wanted to her to dance too! I was thinking of piano, but I am concerned lessons would be too hard since she can't practice. Dance was a perfect option! She really wanted to go buy a "dance outfit" before class (she watched SYTYCD this summer at the Lampards and knew that people usually danced in awesome outfits), but I felt like it wouldn't be necessary. I called the teacher ahead of time and asked what the dress code was, and she said anything that is comfortable, as long as her hair is pulled back. So she went in leggings and a t-shirt

We get there and she is the only girl out of five of them that day who was not wearing a little dance outfit with a skirt or tutu. She took that in, and I could see on her face that she wasn't very happy with me. I felt SO BAD! If I had known that all the other girls had one, I would have got her something! But the teacher said it wasn't necessary! Despite that, she still jumped right into the class and really enjoyed it. But when we got into the car afterwards, the first thing she said to me was "All my other friends in there had dance outfits, and we need to go get me a dance outfit right away". Sorry kid!

I called Brandon and Shelby one evening because I was feeling particularly drained. We had another appointment with the OB/GYN in early Sept and she didn't give us good news. She basically just told us that something was wrong, and that we would have an incredibly difficult time conceiving naturally, and that she was sending us to a fertility specialist in Victoria. But she then said that we wouldn't be able to get an appointment at that clinic for at least six months, probably closer to a year. After two years of trying, and all the heartache of the past year, that felt so demoralizing. And everyday it seems I have more friends telling me that they are pregnant, and every single time it feels like I got punched. I am SO happy for my friends, really truly... but it is just so hard to hear and feel like something must be wrong with me, and that I am less of a mother because I "only" have one. I work VERY hard to stay positive but somedays it gets me down. This was one of them - Shelby came on the phone and I just cried and she listened. She is the best, so kind and sweet and she gave me really good advice. I felt much better afterwards. Then the next day these showed up at my house!!!! What! How thoughtful!! She is truly amazing. It turned my whole perspective around. It is a lot easier to stay positive when people are so kind and show such love!

I had to start work again after the summer off... lame! I need a better job. But the hours are good for us, so all it well! Me going to work means that these two hang out in the evenings I work. For Jon, that always means going for a walk down the beach with her

Then he sends this... sitting in the backyard with her, suntanning. She wanted to tan in just her undies haha!! Oh my goodness. Also, notice the tattoos on her ankles and feet. Jenna has foot tattoos, and Q wanted to put some one just like Jenna. haha!

We spent a night in Victoria on the weekend - it was so rainy! Hello fall. It came on so fast and with no warning. Sad! I am not a huge fan of the rain... but better than freezing cold I suppose! We went for a walk on the breakwater which was good - one days like this, its easy to feel so blah, but getting out is a good thing!

I love this picture of these three. They all three have the same soft heartedness about them, which is really cool. We had a really good day with Lois!

Bed time was particularly difficult for a while around this time because she was pretty clingy, especially when we are there, and not at our own house. I think after the months of all the change and people in and out constantly, she just needed to be reminded that Daddy and I are a constant, and that we aren't going anywhere. More on how we dealt with bedtime later - but this is a prime example of how she would sleep when we weren't at home (or even sometimes when we were home!)  - the blacks on the left side is my body... she is pressed right up against me, snoring and sleeping soundly. If I didn't sit with her while she was falling asleep, she would cry and just beg me to be with her. Poor girl! (and poor mom! haha)

Starting our Survivor pool! I can't say that Survivor is my favorite show... I probably wouldn't watch it if it wasn't for this pool. But it is a really fun way to stay connected to these camp people that we love so much! Our pool this year has Matt, Vanessa, Lisa, Brad, Sarah and Derek in it! The groups text with us all can get pretty hilarious. I like it :) As we were making picks, Q wanted to take notes too, so here she is making her "picks" haha! It won't be long until she does actually want in!

Fall has started, and I am really looking forward to the new routine. I love fall. Everything starts over fresh again, feels like a new beginning

Jenna Comes to Visit

The very next day, Jenna and her friend Matt came to visit for a few days. They were doing a big Alberta/BC road trip, and we were one of their stops. They had a bunch of stuff planned for while they were here, so we really only saw them in the evenings! It was SO good to have Jenna around for a few days! 

Cleaning and getting the house ready for the next set of guests. She loves helping to clean, so I put Mr Clean and water in her bottle and she sprays the walls and wipes them down and dusts everything. It is awesome haha!

They got here in the mid afternoon, so we decided to head to the beach in Chemainus for a little bit before dinner and let them see the ocean here (Matt is from the UK)

Quinny right away went to Jenna and was playing with her and Jenna loved it. It is always interesting to see how she reacts to certain people. We talk to Jenna lots, but we don't see her often, but still Q knows that she is family and that she is important to us and i like that

LOVE this cousin of mine. We reminisced about growing up together, just a few houses apart, and the fun we had. She has been a constant in my life, always a dear friend. The day my Auntie married her Dad was a good one!!!! My bond with her is what always drives me to pray that Q has a strong relationships with Madi and Kenna, because I know the joy of having a forever friend in your cousin. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding, and I am one of the first one she calls when any life event happens. She is just such a beautiful, bright, joyful human being to be around and I am so proud of what she has done with her life. She is a huge inspiration! Love her.

Beauties!!!!

Game time! They played so many rounds of trouble and hungry hippos with her! Quinny LOVES playing games and always convinces whoever is over to play with her.

Evening walk!

They left during the day to go explore Victoria and go kayaking and hiking and walk around. Q and I stayed home (Jon went to work at camp) and had our first day at home since summer ended!

We went outside and she right away says to me "Mama my play house got so dirty while we were at camp in the summer. I need to clean it, okay!" And she spent over an hour spraying it all down, wiping it, and using her broom to sweep. What a girl! She is the best.

Before bed snuggles! They were attached at the hip!

I stole this off Jenna's snapchat because it was so funny and so typical! "I told her to smile" - and of course Q turns her head around and giggles. Always being silly and playing "jokes".

Much better! Jenna and Matt babysat on Tuesday night so that we could go to the first youth group of the year and we said good-bye to them in the morning. We were so sad! We are already looking forward to seeing her at Christmas! Having so much company all the time is a lot, but I LOVE that I have family that is eager to come see us and spend time with us. So thankful.