Stormy Weekend at Home

Some of my lovely youth girls at youth group one night. These girls bring me so much happiness!

The little Mama put her babies to "bed" with Dani and then cuddled up beside them on the couch. See Dani's little head? It amazes me that Dani stays (not always, sometimes she runs off, but usually she cuddles in wherever Q has put her)

Crafting night at the ceramic place in Duncan with the Camp women. A fun night or crafting and conversation and good cheese. My little ladybug dish turned out how I wanted and Q uses it to keep her treasures! 

Quinny has been practicing writing a lot. She has alphabet cards hanging up in her playroom and studies them and is getting SO good at knowing which letters are what. I write out her name for her and then she copies it. Usually she just traces over top, but this time she wanted to write it on her own. So I wrote it out and she wrote them out in her own way. So this paper says Quinny - now we just need to work on putting the letters in order. So proud! 

The Fall Teen Retreat at Imadene was that weekend. We had all been planning to go - we had some youth group kids that were coming and we had a ton of Wildside campers that we wanted to connect with. But there was a shortage of cabin leaders and Jon had to cabin lead last minute. There was a huge storm coming in, and I did not feel okay about staying at Wildside by myself with Quinny in a storm. So we sadly had to stay home... I was pretty disappointed all weekend. But we had a cozy weekend at home! It was Q's bedtime but I wanted to stay downstairs and keep watching Netflix... and I'm a tad afraid of the dark... so I told her she could stay downstairs with me if she laid still and was quiet. She did and she fell asleep pretty much right away. So cozy and comfy with the fire

These boys had tons of fun being on "tree" patrol - watching all the trees fall in the storm

My little grocery shopper helper. She pushes her own cart and then unloads it herself. She loves helping with absolutely everything

Best part of grocery shopping - getting Starbucks when we are all done and drinking coffee (me) and eating cake pops (her). We love Save-On Foods with the coffee shop!

Soaking wet from all their adventures outside. Jon had a great weekend overall and I am so glad!!

Toddler and Kitty sleeping cuddles. Does it get cuter than this!?

The stripes that you see are her undies - she comes out of the bathroom giggling to herself and then calls my name and when I turn to look, she shows off her undies and starts wiggling her butt. What a goof!!

Play-Doh Fun!

I was sad to miss out on camp, but it was really nice to spend a whole weekend just at home with nothing really to do. hanging out with my lovely girl. She is pretty cool kid who I can have conversations with and she makes me laugh constantly. It was nice to spend time connecting and just being together. We missed Dad though and were very happy when he came home!!!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We started Thanksgiving weekend by coming down and meeting everyone for dinner at Red Robin's

This is her classic look these days - "crazy eyes" she calls them. She thinks this is just hilarious. What a stinker!

She loves her Auntie KK! I love seeing Quinny with her family. Such special bonds!

The next morning, Quinny and Nannie went out early to go get a few pumpkins for a craft that Nannie wanted to do with the girls. Pumpkin flower pots! The pumpkins had to be cleaned all out... it made me laugh seeing Q's face... touching all that "yucky" stuff was not her favorite part, but she still did it

Madi didn't like it either, but Madi loves the camera much more than Quinny does and will turn on that adorable smile at any time when she sees the camera! haha! What a cutie

Silly Nannie! Anything to make her little girls laugh

Finished product! They were SO cute!!! What a great idea.

Helping with the dirt

Shannon was having a baby shower that day so I went with the Lampard women out to Sooke for that. Jon and Luke took the girls for an outing that day - they hit up the firehall in Saanich where Luke works paid on call. Love this one of the girls with their babies! Q with a doll and Madi with her horse

Jon tried all Luke's gear on... looks good!

And these two bought a house!!!! I am SO PROUD of them! Amazing

Totally tuckered out that night after a very full day of playing with Madi and then hanging out with the family that evening!

And on Sunday we hit up the pumpkin patch for our annual trip out there. We didn't have tons of time, but it was still fun. I love going there! 

Aww! I love this one

Nate in the background photo bombing!

When I looked at this picture afterwards, I was struck with the thought that if this little one in the middle is our only one, our lives would not be any less full. She adds so much life and joy to our world, and we love her as much as if there were ten of her. I feel like I am finally coming around to a place of being content with where I am, letting go of what is beyond my control, and just learning how to be present. I need to focus and just BE with my family right now. I am beyond thankful for them. I feel ready to tackle whatever is next, whether it be Q as an only child, fertility treatment, adoption... whatever doors open to us, we will walk them, and we will do it with joy in our hearts, knowing we are giving God the glory and serving Him with our lives.

And then I flipped to this one next and laughed. Such a sweet picture turns into such a silly picture. I love these people.

The afternoon on Sunday we went out to Sooke again, this time for Thanksgiving dinner at Auntie Hanna's and Uncle Ian's. I always like Thanksgiving out there - super yummy food!!  Quinny was a fan of the trampoline

And Monday was a relaxing day at Tim and Lois', enjoying the sunshine and playing croquet! A few years ago Jon and Nate started the "Acorn Classic", which is just a reason to play croquet one more time before winter. So fun. This pretty girl was the cheerleader and then jumped in and hit her own ball around for a while

Makenna showing off her medal from the horse vaulting competition earlier in the weekend. Way to go!

Love these people! Such a great Thanksgiving. We are so blessed.

October Day to Day Life

We had a church congregational meeting talking about what our church will do now that both Jen and Jon have resigned. Is it time to hire a full time Associate Pastor? My opinion is yes, but the church needs to figure all that out! While we were in the meeting, Dixie offered to take Quinny and Ady outside to play... what a friend! She later posted this picture to her Instagram and I stole it because its so cute :)

Family walk/bike ride down by the boardwalk. This is our favorite part of Crofton!

Quinny asked Ady at church all by herself if she wanted to come over and have a tea party together. Day went home and told Mary and then Mary asked me... pretty funny, Quinny arranging her own play dates already. So they came over one morning for tea and tiny cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches. Love love love love these girls!

And tea time turned into princess dress up play time!

Brad and Lisa came over for a Monday night dinner and Lisa loved Dani - how can you not?! The three of them played together most of the evening. So cute

Amanda has walked through so much life with me and is always a steady rock and supportive friend. I appreciate her and her thoughtfulness so much. She remembered when my appointment was and made a point to check in and make sure we knew she was praying and see that we are good. Love her.

Again, I caught him cuddling with Dani! Gotcha Jon... you DO like the cats! ;)

This is her new thing... she reads in bed and when she's done, she stashes the books under her pillow. I think it's so cute! She loves to read, which makes my heart VERY happy! And sleeping as always with those hands under her head. These are moments I don't want to forget. She is so sweet.

Playing at the park by Nannie and Papa's house

Tin Foil Challenge at youth group... this is LeighAnne, one of my new favourites this year. The Lampards actually know LeighAnne's family... small world! She lives in Crofton near us and we drive her home each week... she is such a sweet girl. She has very quickly become very important!

Quinny that night went to Granny Cathy's house (I love that Quinny calls her that). Cathy had a tea party all set up for her and they baked cookies and watched Thomas the Train and played pretend kitchen. I love that Q has places to go where she is so loved and taken care while we serve in youth ministry! She has been asking to go back to Granny Cathy's house ever since!

My gorgeous ballet dancer! She looked at me with my phone pointed at her and she gave me this look... a total "MOM! I'm in ballet class, don't take my picture!" face. But seriously, that little dance outfit with the pompoms are just too cute to not take pictures of. Sorry for embarrassing you Quinny... I will probably do it your whole life, because I think you are amazing

She does so good and I am so proud watching her. I hope she can always do what she loves, whatever that may be!

Kitty cuddles once we got home. Dani is purring so loud and just loving it

I love how Quinny is being silly here and Dani is watching her, just sitting on her lap. These two!

Playing hockey with Daddy in the living room. She pulled out the sticks and begged him to play with her... I love how she wants to play hockey while wearing her ballet outfit. She is a well rounded kid!

"Mama, look! I have a baby in my tummy just like Mary does! I love babies in tummy's!"

"Now I am carrying my baby on my back. Elsa is SO heavy" as she giggles to herself, because this doll weighs less than a pound. Little jokster haha.

You are my favorite little love Quinny. I cannot imagine my life without you and your hilariousness! These days you are asking lots of questions (seriously, the questions NEVER STOP haha!) and are just so curious about the world. Your brains amaze me. You ask us what roads we are turning onto, and you remember their names and you will tell me where to turn and what the name of the road is before we turn. You point out things that I don't see, and you really think about the world. You are very stubborn and know exactly what you want, and you are also sweet and so caring. You rub my hair when I have a headache and you tuck in your babies every night before bed. I see so much of myself in you, and at times so much of your dad. But you are so uniquely yourself at the same time. I love our days together and I really do cherish this time we have had the past few years to build a bond that is strong and will last a lifetime. I often ache for another baby, but I also love the rhythm we have and the way we have such special time together. You are my little buddy, my constant companion and I couldn't imagine it any other way. I love you kid.

I know, so many pictures of Quinny and Dani... I just can't help it. They are so cute together! Here they are watching some Paw Patrol

Thanksgiving was near, so Eggnog was out! I do not like eggnog one bit but Jon LOVES it... he introduced it to Quinny and she also loves it. I'm glad he has an eggnog drinking buddy and will stop bugging me to drink some haha