The Rest of April

When my mom was here, we talked a lot about adoption. It's something that Jon and I have talked about this year, and I wanted to get a feel for how my mom felt. I was blown away by her encouragement and support. She was more instantly supportive than I expected, and jumped on board faster than anyone else did. We had quite a few long, and very positive, conversation about it, and she helped me as a sounding board to bounce off all my thoughts/fears/excitement. With those conversations still in my mind, we had one more IUI to do, because we really wanted to give the fertility treatments our all. I am a big believer in the power of the positive thinking, and I know our brain greatly affects our bodies, so I set aside the thoughts of adoption, and focused on this latest, and last, treatment. This was our third one, so we knew no more after this. We had a lot of high hopes resting on it. So we went through all the steps of medications, ultrasounds, and blood work one more time. When the bloodwork showed a LH surge, in we went! I took a picture of the sign, because I was really hoping that it would be the last time I had to look at it!

Jon went into his special room (makes me laugh every single time), and he jokingly said as he walked away "send me pictures'. Well dear husband, I am not that wife. I am, however, THIS wife... I sent pictures. Funny, bunny-eared pictures haha!!

The last treatment, done! No more poking and prodding and stir-ups. I am over it. We celebrated our high hopes of this one being successful by going for coffee together

This was on the weekend, when we decided that we wanted to go out for breakfast. Cheap, and delicious, our kind of meal! haha!

My Dad bought us a "new" chair! Its actually used, but in perfect condition and fits perfectly in our corner space! He said it was my Mother's Day present - yay me! We love it!

She was writing things and I was in the kitchen. We have been practicing her name a lot, but she often still need some guidance (she's only 3. Its so easy to forget that sometimes!). When I came over to see how she was doing, she shocked me! She had written her entire name all by herself! When I asked her what she looked at to know what the letters each looked like, she responded with "Nothing. My brain just told me". Way to go!!!! She is getting SO smart and so big!!!!

The bottom line is the one where she got it right - she said the two lines above that were "practicing". So awesome kid. You make me proud. Not because you can write your name, but because you take time to really think about things and think it through. I am proud of your determination and your focus. You are growing into a little lady with a personality that is all your own, and I am sure I will say it a hundred thousand times, but I love watching it unfold. You amaze me just by being you.

Auntie Lisa came over to babysit on a Tuesday night while we went to youth group, and they made troll cookies. Lisa is the very best. She fills the role of Auntie so well, and these two just love each other dearly! They are always doing fun things like this when Lisa has her! Awesome.

At Mom's Morning Out, Quinny wants to hold all the babies. She just gooes over them, and showers them with so much attention. She loves babies! This is Lewis, Ashley and Peter's newest little one.

Then Ady wanted to hold Lewis so Quinny asked for Holly. This picture totally cracks me up! The babies looking at each other, and Quinny and Ady laughing at something together. Love these kids! Future youth group!

Classic Q face. All the time. haha! Making pancakes with Daddy

The Rest of Mom's Visit

Mom spent her whole week off with us, as she often does over Easter. I love having her.

Going for a hike around Chemainus Lake

These two played this crazy game the whole walk - I have no idea what the rules were, but they loved it. It really does amaze me the energy and love my mom pours out onto Quinny. It was funny to watch them

Teaching her about trees. Her tree knowledge is actually quite impressive because she retains all this information that he tells her. The problem is when she asks me a question and I'm all like "well, ask your dad because I know zero things about trees, outside of the fact that they are brown and green!" haha!!

"Hiding" from us, disguising themselves as trees. Goofballs!

Family games!

Helping Grandma bake cookies!

Grandma Gladys made Quinny this new blanket that is for her babies. It's so soft and cozy, which is why she wanted to cuddle up in it haha!

I had to work on Tuesday of her visit, and so did Jon and mom was eager to help us. It is REALLY nice to not have to frantically call around to people in our community to see who can help us. I LOVE HAVING FAMILY AROUND! So they hung out all day, and mom made lasagna! She knows that her lasagna is my favorite meal that she makes, so I was so touched that she did that! Yumm! We sent a picture to Brandon to tell him that we wished he was there too!

Playing outside with Cooper! This spring, she has made friends with the kids who live across the street, and they are so cute together!!! Cooper is in grade 1 and Abby is in grade 3, so they are a bit older than she is, but they love her and are so good with her! They come over and knock on the door and then play outside together for hours. It's so cute!

I also love this part of having my mom around - Quinny gets to show off her skills!! It's fun for her to have someone other than me to watch - she got out and right away was talking a mile a minute, asking Grandma if she this or that... I love that.

Because I am a crazy mom, I let her try out the new Unicorn Frapp that was all the rage this spring. She loved it, especially the blue sour parts. I thought it was so gross haha

Last night of her visit, and we decided to open the date package for that month from Jenna's big box. It was a secret ingredient Chef competition! So fun! Our ingredient was BBQ and we gave each other ten minutes and a budget to shop for dinner and we would each make our own and Mom and Q would judge.

My appy! They loved it.

Q had dance right before dinner, so we each let ours marinade, and went to drop her off. Since its closed classes, we decided to go to Riot Brewing for the 45 minutes. Beer (root beer for me haha) and crib! They have games at the table to play as your drink your samples. Amazing!

And Jon's dinner won. Bacon wrapped chicken, stuffed with cheese, and marinaded in a BBQ sauce

Mine was homemade Honey BBQ chicken wings. Delicious, but not as good as his. This was a fun date idea! Thanks Jenna!

Mom left and we all cried (well not Jon, but the rest of us did). I hate leaving day! She brings so much life to our house when she's here, and it makes me sad when I think about how far away we are.  Visits like these make it hard for me, because I wish we lived closer, and it makes me dream of moving back home to where my family is. Doing life without family is so hard sometimes! But I know that once we get back into the swing of our day to day grind, those feelings pass, and I do love our life here.  I just really miss my mom.

Easter Weekend

Gah! So much time has gone by... yikes! There has been a lot going on with us - but we will get to that. I am going to power through a few posts, just so that I can get the pictures up that I want, and then I can catch you up to speed on what's been going on in our family!

So backing up to Easter Weekend (WOW that seems like a lifetime ago!). Q woke up on Saturday and we had an egg hunt all set up for her, because we were going to be busy on Sunday and I didn't want to skip this fun tradition. She wakes up, and comes running into our room yelling at us: "MOM! DAD! WAKE UP! Something crazy has happened!!" She was SO excited! We asked her what happened and she replies with "It's so crazy! There is candy EVERYWHERE! Mama, it is EVERYWHERE!" She was yelling and giddy, and it made us laugh. I love that she's the kid who comes to our room to tell us and wants to know whats going on before she touches anything. She is such a good kid.

We gave her a bowl and told her happy hunting! 

New Easter dress with her bunny! The chocolates were hidden in stashes all over the house. She was so adorable looking everywhere for them.

That afternoon we had a wedding to go to, and Crofton was doing an Easter Fun Day at the ball field, so my mom happily took Q down there to check it out. Having my mom here is amazing. I love that she babysits without question, and just jumps in and is so helpful. Not to mention fun! Her and Q always have SO MUCH fun together, because my mom is a ball of energy and is awesome like that.

They had crafts, bouncy castles, an Easter hunt, an Easter bunny chase (which apparently Quinny was pretty mad about - when she saw the "bunny" and said "Grandma! That's just a kid dressed up, I don't want to chase him!" haha! She is so literal, it makes me laugh all the time. My mom convinced her that it would be fun and she did indeed chase the bunny. Gotta love small towns!!!

Yay Kelly and Geoff! So happy for you!!

Just Jake's for food and some drinks with these people in between the ceremony and reception. Love them.

These two both said it was a super fun day together. They rode Q's new bike, went to the beach, and drew with chalk, all after the community fun day. So awesome. Also, isn't this picture gorgeous?! Wow, they are both so beautiful!

Easter Sunday was at the Lampards for the annual big easter hunt. We came down in time for church in the morning and went to the Lampards church. I missed being with our own community of people but we couldn't make it work time wise to go to our own. And Saanich does a really great Easter service, so it was nice. These three were hanging out in the sunshine together before it all started.

I really love how these two are often not very far away from each other. I really pray that they are best friends as they grow.

Finding chocolate and bubbles like a boss!

This is about as good as it gets for a picture with these two very silly girls haha

She just cannot sit still and not be silly haha

One of my favorite things about my mom is her love for Jon. She treats him like a son, and loves him so much. Their relationship is incredibly positive, and they really respect and care for the other. I'm thankful for that.

LOVE this! 

These two make my whole world light up. I love them so much.

Gah! That face! 

Lampards!

Siblings! Calea wanted it just the four of them, but Jon and Luke said no way it had to be all six of us. I love the boys for their thoughtfulness and love for their wives! And the six of us are pretty cute :)

And the day ended in cuddles on the couch reading stories before it was time to go home. A lovely Easter!