Oops (aka lots of updates)

So, its been 2 months since I've posted here. Not good.
MANY things have happened since then. Lets see where we get ;)

Peppers!

We are growing peppers on our kitchen window sill (inside). We've had one "crop" of a few peppers already, and a second is growing.

Daddy's DS

Mark's DS is a favorite toy for both our girls. They like to play Chrono Trigger WITH daddy, or either Pictochat or Scribblenauts by themselves.

Kara's Birthday

Kara is 3! Her birthday was March 10, though we had her party on March 3 just in case the baby decided to come early. (It didn't.) Here's some pictures from her party.

Playtime

So, there was the teachers' strike last week. That meant Chloe was home for a few days. The girls had a lot of fun playing different things, like finger painting and "princesses". Oh, and spinning around in new pretty dresses from Grandma Rose. (Thanks Grandma!)

Tooth Fairy

Chloe lost her third tooth last week. She pulled it out herself, even. She was so excited to get "a whole dollar!", which she spent on a pack of orange tic-tacs. It was funny, because the tic-tacs could fit through the hole left by the missing tooth.

What's Next?

Well, at this point, we're waiting for baby. My due date is technically today. We'll see what happens though. I sure would like to be done though. Chloe has Spring Break next week, which will make things interesting. Other than that, life goes on. Hopefully it won't take me 2 months to get back here again.

Birthday Party

So, its a bit late, but here are some pictures from Chloe's party on Sunday. We all had a great time!

Chloe's flower pot cake:

Left to right - Avery, Ava, Kara, Ruby, Chloe, Aimie:

Super excited about a present:

And very happy to get a Tinkerbell art set:

Grandma pushing Kara:

3 cousins on swings, in matching dresses:

Happy Birthday Daddy

To a wonderful daddy whom we love very much, and does so many things for us:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Thank you for being the best thing in our lives.

Birthday Photos

Some pictures from Kara's party on Sunday.

Kara and her cool new sunglasses. Thanks Ava!

Showing her mermaid to Auntie Alie.

Birthday cake!

Blowing out candles by herself.

Chloe's Birthday Party

Its a few days late, because I've been sick, but here are some pictures from Chloe's birthday party, which was on Saturday August 28 :D

Happy Birthday Chloe!!!

Our little girl is 4!!! Wow!

Today was a great day for Chloe. Ruby came over to play at 9:30 and we did crafts - we made paper ring caterpillars and muffin cup butterflies. We played outside, sang silly songs and were just generally goofy. Aayla came over around 11, and all four girls (yes! 4!) played really nice until Kara's naptime at 11:30. Ruby went home at 12, and Chloe went with Aayla to her house for a cupcake tea party! Aayla's mom is a hair dresser, so she gave Chloe a pretty hairdo. They dressed up in princess dresses and did other girly things. It was a really nice treat for Chloe, and a great break for me.

I picked Chloe up from Aayla's house at 4:30 and we went to swim lessons. Of course Chloe told everyone that it was her birthday today, and that she was 4. When we were done getting changed after swim lessons, one of the pool supervisors was waiting at the front desk with balloons for Chloe. She was super excited! Then we came home, had dinner, ate cake and Chloe opened her present (a Dora toy and some new pants). Then Chloe watched an episode of Madeline, followed by me reading her two and a half books, and then about 10 minutes of goofing off with Dad.

All in all a wonderful, busy and happy day :D

(Look at those slightly sunburned cheeks!)

(Here you can see the remnants of Chloe's hairdo. We did go swimming...)

(And this is the cake I made right before swimming, and decorated in about 10 minutes between getting home and eating dinner.)

Birthday Bear

Chloe's birthday is coming up on August 24. Her friend Ruby's birthday was on July 30. As a gift for both of them, I took them to Build-A-Bear workshop on Thursday. They had a great time. Chloe got a pretty purple bear, and Ruby got a horse. (Though Ruby was talking the whole time we were driving there about how she really wanted a unicorn!) Chloe named her bear "Canolee" (say it like canola, but replace the a with an e), a name she came up with all by herself! They also got to choose an outfit for their friend, and a pair of shoes.

While the staff were helping us make the bear and horse, we mentioned that the trip was for the girls' birthdays, and all of a sudden they had "I'm the Birthday Bear" stickers, and they got a birthday song sung to them! Very cool, and unexpected.

Here's some pictures of our trip :)

Congratulations & Happy Birthday

Mark's sister-in-law Greta had a baby girl earlier today. We welcome Emma Joy Nicholson to our family. Congratulations to Paul, Greta and Ava.

And we wish happy 28th birthday to our daddy and husband. We love you Mark. Thank you for everything you do for us. You make us very happy.

Cake!

So, its a week and a half late, but here goes anyway.

Last week, Uncle Lee (Mark's bro) and his kids came down from Vernon for a week. The very first day they were here, we got all of Mark's family together and had a big June/July birthday party for me (June 11), Mark (July 14), Violet (July 19) and James (July 27). Due to our food restrictions, I made the cake. And what a cake it was!



I made gluten free carrot cake, topped it with dairy free cream cheese icing, and then made rolled fondant for the turtle and flowers too!



The rest of Lee's visit was also fun. Chloe got to go to Playland with Uncle Lee, we went swimming, hung out on Canada Day (which was so cold!) and played some too.

Kara continues to try out new words, such as "car" and "jump". And "new", though it sounds like a mix between "new" and "no".

This is the last week of work for Mark before summer hiatus begins. We're looking forward to having daddy home for a few weeks, and hopefully going to the park now that it looks like summer might be here. Speaking of parks, we're off to the water park with some friends when Kara wakes up from her nap.

I am also headed to Trail with just Kara this weekend for my friend Coral's 30th birthday. Hopefully Kara doesn't hate the super long car ride too much... *fingers crossed* I'm dropping Chloe off in Abbotsford with Grandma on Thursday, and Grandma will bring Chloe home to Mark on Friday when Mark is done work. I'll be arriving home sometime late afternoon/early evening (preevening?) on Monday. It will really be nice to see Coral again.

28

Today is my birthday. I'm 28. I was commenting to Jordy & Juana last night how I sometimes feel really old, and other times feel really young. In our group of friends from camp & Abbotsford, Mark and I are among the oldest. Yet I am definitely the youngest in the group of moms I know out here, and we are the youngest parents in our little group of 5 houses with young kids on our street.

So anyway, I'm 28 now. Hooray?

Happy Birthday Kara

Wow! Kara is 1 today! She has grown so much and done so many things in her first year of life. Its amazing to think of all she has given us, and how much more we still get to see. We thank God so much for the blessing she is.

A reminder of what she was like at 3 days old:
And 6 months old:
And here she is today :)

Allergy test and birthday party

So, after waiting 3 months to see an allergist for Kara, we finally had our appointment on Friday. We went in, talked a bit, the allergist did the typical skin-prick test where they put whatever the allergen in the food is on the skin and make a small scratch. If the scratch flares up into a hive, that's an allergic reaction.

NOTHING HAPPENED.

Something is still causing Kara's eczema, but apparently its not easy to identify. This does mean that all Kara has is an "intolerance" though, so nothing she eats should be life-threatening. But we need to go back to the doctor and see what he says, since I want to know why her skin is so icky.

Today was Kara's birthday party (she's 1 on wednesday!). We had our parents, my sister and Mark's brother Peter over, ate food and gluten-free/dairy-free cake, opened presents and visited. It was a nice, low-key party. Here's Kara eating cake!

Happy Birthday Chloe!

Wow! Our big girl is 3 today! Its amazing to think that we have had 3 precious years with her so far. Of course, they've been 3 pretty crazy years as well.

Here are some pictures from her party on Saturday. I made her a Swiper the Fox (from Dora) cake, she was really happy. We had a lot of fun.


Yesterday we went to Abbotsford to visit Mark's cousin Steve in the hospital. Then we went to his house and hung out with his wife Carolyn and their two daughters. Each of their daughters is about 2.5 months older than our girls, so Chloe and Anna had a great time playing. Kara and Laura had a great time making faces and smiles at each other, and grabbing for each other too. It was a lot of fun, even if Steve wasn't there to participate. But Carolyn says he gets to come home today, hooray! For more, see this post on their blog.

Happy Birthday Mark

Hooray, Mark is 27! Happy birthday to our husband and daddy, we all love you very much.

Happy Birthday Danielle

Happy Birthday to me, I'm 24 plus 3! We're going out for dinner with my mom and sister tonight, then out for lunch with some friends on Saturday. I am amazed at where I am in life right now, would never have guessed it 10 years ago. I have a wonderful husband and two beautiful daughters. They all make my life fantastic, even if it is a bit stressful sometimes.

Here's a pic of Mark and I from a few weeks ago :) We were at my mom's house... I'm not sure when the last time we got both of us in a picture is :P