Our Little Princess

Thanks to Debbie for this great shot of Lauren with auntie Rebecca.

Waiting for Breakfast

I know I've posted pics of Calvin sucking his thumb recently, but this pic from the other day just gets me. I was making the kids pancakes for breakfast and Calvin was waiting patiently for his plate. The sun was shining in the window behind him, making for a nice blurred back lit pic.

Power Wheels, Power Wheels

This is the face of pure joy! Sarah asks to drive her car almost every day. The other day she woke up and came into our room fully dressed with boots and jacket on, all ready to drive. It's a little scary to watch her at times, since she loves off roading onto the neighbours lawns and driveaways whenever possible. Thank goodness we live on a cul de sac.

We've all been happy to see more of the sun these days and less of the rain and cold weather.

Calvin using our neighbour kids car

Oma and Lauren

Thanks again for the power wheels Michael and Rebecca! The kids (especially Sarah) are loving it!

Feel Good Thursdays

Just after Christmas I thinking about how much I would love to be a part of a photography club/group. After all my looking around I couldn't find anything like what I had in mind, let alone in the area. Two weeks ago I called my second cousin Sonja to see if she would be interested in starting a club with me. She was thrilled with the idea and so we set out planning, chatting and dreaming. I have already been so blessed through Sonja. We are so... alike and seem to compliment each other really well. I couldn't ask for anyone better to do this with.

Last night we had our first "Moms with a Camera" photography club meeting. We had a lot of interest with the club, so we were excited and curious as to who would actually come out. There ended up being 12 of us, perfect for the first night and not bad for only advertising on our facebook pages. There are at least 7 others that couldn't come that night but say they are planning to come and even more that have shown a lot of interest through emails, etc. We put the club in the free Slice of Life section of the Abby News as well, which appeared in the Thursday paper. So we've had a couple more women contact us last night/ today.

Last night we talked about how the club came to be, our hopes for the club, where we're all at in photography, etc. Amazingly, Sonja and I already have a schedule for the club until the end of 2012. We're thrilled to already have an incredible line up of talented photographers coming to share with our group right up until the end of this calendar year. We've also got photography challenges set out for each month. So it was exciting to share the plan with the other women and see them get excited too.

I left the meeting feeling even more excited than when I got there. I know that I will form friendships with many of these women and learn a lot about photographing our children. I'm excited to share my passion with others and be with Christian and non Christian women. It was also awesome to be somewhere that I felt comfortable nursing Lauren and sharing at the same time. It's such an amazing feeling to have an idea, act on it and then see it come to life in reality. Seriously, super exciting! I got home feeling refreshed and energized and way too excited to go to bed right away. Sometimes I just have too many ideas in my head.

This morning the kids were talking about having popcorn with daddy last night and him putting them to bed. I didn't even think that my night out could be a special night for the kids and daddy. How cool! I also find it amazing how doing things for ourselves can refresh and energize us. I had fun playing with the kids today, really enjoying my time with them.

Next Thursday is date night for David and I. I think Thursdays are my new favourite day of the week. We have just started having date nights the 2nd and fourth Thursday of each month (baby-sitter already set up) and photography club is the first and third Thursday of each month. LOVE.

Lauren is 3 Months

Our precious little Lauren is 3 months already! She continues to be a really happy little girl giving us lots of grins and smiles.

I've got my hand!

Valentines Party

On February 13th we had a little Valentines party. The kids were thrilled to have their "friends" come play, craft and eat treats. Life is good. Little Eleanor and Lenora even came to the party (Lauren slept for most of it).

We did hand paintings. Liam liked the feeling of the paint on his fingers.

And then came treat time. The kids were excited to eat cupcakes, cookies, heart shaped cheese and all the other goodies.

The kids thought it was fun to sit on the floor while eating their treats. They were soon all under the table eating.

Sarah and Beth happily played together throughout the party and afterwards.

Sweet Abigail, love the crumbs on the corner of her mouth.

Ben and TJ...more cookie crumbs.

Thanks for coming to our party everyone! We had a wonderful time with you. Happy Valentines Day!

"Swimming"

The kids continue to pretend that they're at the beach. Today they found buckets and shovels and had a digging contest (Sarah won of course). They found lots of shells. Sarah moved the little table and the rug in the family room was the sand.

All that great space was prefect for swimming. Seriously, these kids crack me up! Sarah actually looks like she's swimming in this pic.

Sarah then put on her beloved ski goggles and went swimming again, this time looking for aligators.

Best imaginations!!

Some Valentines Freebies just for fun

I've posted some free pdf's on my dolcetto designs blog for Valentines Day and thought I would share here as well. Head on over to http://www.dolcettodesigns.com/blog/ to see the Valentines posts and print off your freebies.

Funny!

Too little for Tea Party

Sarah is obviously really looking forward to playing with her little sister. The other day Sarah thought she would bring the tea party to Lauren since she couldn't come and play on her own. So sweet.

The Vancouver Aquarium

Yesterday we spent the morning at the Vancouver Aquarium with several of my cousins, aunt, uncle, mom, etc, etc. It's my cousin Steven's birthday, so we all went to celebrate his special day. The kids loved looking at all the fish, watching the Dolphin show and spending time with family.

Some of our group checking out the fish.

Sarah and Calvin

Calvin, Sarah, Abby and Nathan

I've always loved the Jelly fish tank. So amazing.

I found it really difficult to capture a small fish with the camera. Low lighting conditions and rapidly moving fish=not easy. I was loving the challenge though.

It's difficult to get good photos of the kids at a place like the aquarium since they always have the back of their heads turned towards you. This tank provided a good opportunity to see what Sarah was seeing and the expression on her face.

Calvin was pretty thrilled with all the bubbles in these windows.

Thanks for the invite out Steve! We all had a wonderful time.

Playing Swimming

Sarah and Calvin amaze me with their imagination these days. For the last four days they have been playing beach and swimming at home. They change into their bathing suits, pretend that mounds of blankets are sand, dig for clams with soup ladels and swim on the floor. The other day I cut out some fish for their play time. These kids are sure giving me some laughs.

The other day as they were playing, Sarah says "mom, the fish are tickling my toes" (this was before I cut out fish for them). Funny girl.

They also have a lot of horse races and were even hunting (and killing) foxes on their horses last week. Where do they get this stuff from?