Happy Birthday Danica!

Wow - hard to believe that just two short years ago, Danica came into the world. You can see her first few hours here. And, only one short year ago, she was looking like this. It's been an adventure ever since. Danica is my free-spirited, answer-to-nobody, wild child. She keeps me on my toes and I love every minute of it.

We had a party last weekend for her and I will post pictures soon of that. She had a great time running around and playing.

Happy birthday buddy. I'm so glad God chose us to be your parents. You and your sister continue to teach me new things and help me to continually grow and become better at being me.

Oh Blogger...How I've Missed You

Can it be that it has been over a month since I've last blogged? Life has been so busy that finding time to take a few minutes to relax has been a challenge, let alone find the time to put some sort of thought into a blog post.

So what have we been up to this past month? Greg and the girls spent a day at Fun Mountain enjoying a hot and sunny day (finally). They had a great time and it was nice to actually be able to spend some time outside enjoying the fun of the water slide. Emily is now big enough to go on them herself (although she did have to learn how to wait her turn in line - she kept jumping to the front of the Que).

Danica had her very first haircut. I was a bit worried that she wouldn't sit very still but she proved me wrong and was a perfect angel in the seat. I didn't get a whole lot taken off but just enough to save a few curls for her baby book and to clean up the ends a bit.

Greg and I also saved our pennies and bought ourselves a new king size bed. Our old one was a queen and was far too small for the two of us.

Our version of "Hop on Pop"

Watching movies in our room has become a favourite pastime.

We spent the long weekend camping with our friends and their kids. I have to say that the weekend was one of the best that I have spent in a long, long time. The company was wonderful, the weather delightful and the mosquitoes non-existent. We spent the weekend swimming, tubing, boating, eating, drinking and talking around the campfire. We took part of a morning and went to take a tour of a local hatchery in the area. It was pretty neat to see how eggs are harvested from a fish and grown in captivity and then released into lakes. The kids had a blast with their friends, and aside from Danica falling out of the tent trailer while sleeping, the weekend had no major bumps. I absolutely hope that we can do it again next year.

Who needs a play pen when you have a truck?

At the hatchery.

Ah, quiet time with the girls on the water.

Making cars in the sand.

Danica really, really enjoyed supper this night.

So tired.

Best Friends

Finally, Emily started pre-school. Where did the time go? The first week was only an hour class to help the kids get adjusted but this week they go for the full class time. She has already made friends and I love to hear about all the fun things that they have done during the day.

Monkey see, monkey do

The Grey Cup

Vacation

We are smack dab in the middle of a well needed break from everyday life. We decided this year not to really plan much and just spend some time at home and really relax. That being said, we have managed to keep busy.

We spent some time camping with some friends and their kids. We had great weather and the girls had a blast. We were with three other couples and between the four couples, there were seven little girls so it was a little crazy at times! We had a great time at the beach, Greg got some fishing time in with the lone boys and also with Emily and we spent some nice evenings around the campfire too. It was my first foray into the world of camping as well (at least my first one where I was in charge) and although there are some things that I would definitely change, I do think we will go again next year.

We also went to a water park in Steinbach this week as well. They have a neat little water park there that has both an indoor and outdoor splash pad and pool. The weather wasn't great so we stayed inside and went down the water slides, the lazy river and spent a lot of time in the zero entry area with Danica.

My parents are renting a cabin this year so we will be spending some time there with them. I will post pictures of that once that happens!

Happy Canada Day!!

Happy Canada Day everyone! We hope that you had the opportunity to spend time with family and friends and enjoy some great weather.

We spent this year's Canada Day at the beach. While it was a bit too windy to make anyone really want to get in the water, we had a great time laying around talking, taking the kids to play at the playground and watching Emily participate in her first ever potato sack race (that was so darn cute - of course I didn't get a picture of it as I was helping her keep her sac up while she jumped).

We headed home after a great lunch and then had a bit of a rest before friends of ours came over for dinner. We had a really nice meal with some great wine and enjoyed the company of good friends. The girls played with some sparklers and Danica got a lesson from Uncle Paul on the joys of the various rings on a Blackberry phone.

We are so grateful to live in the country that we do and to be able to freely celebrate the birth of our great nation. Happy birthday Canada!!

Showing off our new Canada Day shirts.

My attempt at a Canadian flag cake - I'll let you be the judge on how much it looked like the Canadian flag!Sparklers.

Changing the ringer on Uncle Paul's phone (and then dancing to the new song).

Summertime Fun

Finally summer has arrived! It took a long time but we finally had a few nice days - the kids got to go outside to play in bathing suits, our garden is growing like crazy and the days are getting longer and longer. We have plans to do some camping later in July and have been spending as much time as possible outside playing baseball and ultimate Frisbee. Emily has mastered bike riding and is always up for a quick ride around the neighbourhood. Danica spends most of her time trying to keep up with Emily and to do all of the same things that she does. We are celebrating Canada Day at the beach on Wednesday and hopefully it will be a nice day. All in all, life is pretty darn good right now and we are looking forward to all the fun and exciting things left to do yet this summer.

Emily is registered for preschool for the fall as well. I can't believe that it is time for her to start preschool already. We are extremely grateful that both sets of grandparents and our sitter are so willing to help us get her to and from school this fall.

Classic - great wedding.

Our new kiddie pool - it looked a lot bigger on the box.

Someone Gets It

Just this week I had the opportunity to talk with someone who has lost a late-term baby. I don't know why I didn't think of this person before, but they had thought of me and yesterday and this morning we had our first conversations.

For the first time, I feel like someone gets it. Someone totally, completely gets it. I was able to be honest for the first time in a long time with anyone (aside from my mother or Greg) about how I really feel. No judgement or condemnation - just acceptance because she has gone through the same feelings as I am now going through.

I think that God has put us in each other's path so that maybe, just maybe, we can help each other sort through and work through things. And for that, I am grateful.

As I know she reads my blog, I'll publicly say thank you to her for having the courage to start a difficult conversation. Thank you for your willingness to open up wounds that are still fresh and raw and to share and to help me. I hope to be a blessing to you as well.