IF IT'S YELLOW....

DON'T let it mellow.....
Isla is INTO the toilet! This morning she was awfully quiet and when I went to find her she was digging into the yellow mellowing toilet and throwing the sopping wet toilet paper out onto the floor....YUCK!!! Good thing Ezra didn't have a number #2, cuz she rarely flushes those......



Our long weekend adventures....
Kakabeka Falls....



We went to the cascades for nice long walk to the waterfalls.....fun!!!


This is the LIFE...Jos Louis in one hand...juice in the other...just kickin' back!

Isla turned ONE!!!

My baby is ONE now!!! Isla celebrated her 1st birthday yesterday May 14th. We had an amazing day!!! Grandma and Grampy visited for 5 days over Islas birthday...it sure made her day EXTRA SPECIAL!
Ezra wanted to make Isla a heart birthday cake...so that we did! Grandma brought waffle sundae bowls and TONS of candy to decorate them with! The kids LOVED it! Isla of course loved her chocolate cake and her pasta dinner that daddy prepared! We also took Isla to wiggles-n-giggles on her birthday...Ezra and Matthijs enjoyed that more than she did!!!
Enjoy the crazy amount of pictures.....Be prepared....cuteness ahead!!!

AT ONE YEAR OLD:
- Down to ONE nap a day - this has been a great thing!
- Cut two MORE molars...now you have all four...for a total of 11 teeth!!!
- Standing for about 5 secs at a time and you have taken a step or so (sometimes, when you're feeling stable)
- You'll pull yourself up on a wall now...anything!
- Now JUST your body is swaddled....and not your arms. Can't believe you did almost a full 11 months of a tight swaddle
- Still nursing 2 times a day (mommy doesn't want to give this one up yet!)
- You LOVE to dance, swaying your body from side to side when you hear music
- You can say a total of 5 words. Ma Ma, Da Da, Ahwa (Ezra), Iee (Hi), Ba Ba (Bye Bye)

Islas 1st Year Collage....



Here are some pictures of Isla the day before she turned ONE...her last day at 0 yr old!!!







Here are her birthday pictures!!!!

Oops, forgot to post about the museum!!!

We had so much fun taking the kids to the museum...they did great and LOVED the Albertosaurus exhibit!!! Such a cool learning experience...can't ya tell!

This-n-That

Isla enjoying her SPAGHET!!!



When Isla is focusing/concentrating...she does almost everything with her tongue poking out of her mouth! She loves her tongue!


Ezra LOVES picking out her own clothes! I'm just thankful it wasn't a school day! PS that shirt is supposed to have a tank underneath it, it's see through!

YAP N SCRAP

YAP N SCRAP....12 Hours of scrapbooking....sounds like fun!
Soooooooooo much fun! Yesterday I went with my friend Jenn and we polished off a ton of stuff! I want to start doing a 12 hr scrap every couple of months...whose in???
We'll do a McDonalds run for lunch and a potluck supper....at someones house!!
This is what I accomplished!
Some close ups to show the journalling...and the detail of my hand stitched paper...I love how that turned out!
Okay Ange.......be inspired and show what you come up with......can't wait!

Finnagan Chinagin

Not sure is this video will work but Ezra and I had SUCH a fun time with finnigan chinagin.....

I Am SO Thankful

This isn't like my typical posts...I just wanted to quickly make a note of how thankful I am for my family. I have a wonderful husband and 3 amazing kids....I couldn't ask for anything more.

Most of all I am thankful that Matthew and I have a relationship with Jesus and that Ezra and Matthijs do too, we can only pray that it will deepen with time....

I am so grateful that we are all healthy. I mean, someone seems to always have a snotty nose, but really? WHO CARES! Thank you God for our health. I pray everyday that we stay healthy.

PLEASE PRAY FOR CARTER
My friend Wanda, from years ago when I worked at DQ. Her and her husband Jeremy have two children. Carter will be 3 in the summer. Last year, days after his 2nd birthday he was diagnosed with cancer. Boy little guy has been through tons of treatments in the last 10 months. Chemo, radiation, bone marrow transplants, blood transfusions, you name it....
They received amazing news...a miracle about a month ago! Carter was CLEAR OF CANCER!!! It was a miracle and blessing...
4 days they got some BAD news...Carter has more. Tumors on his brain and cancer covering his spinal cord - which they hear is hard to treat.
PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM, Wanda and Jeremy too. We don't know how good we have it, until we see the horror and pain in other peoples lives. I pray we never know what they are going through....

This is a really sad poem....but it makes me cherish my kids, and thankful that we are all healthy...it opens my eyes to what others are going through...right now, while I get frustrated with my kids....

I HOPE...

I hope you never have to hear the words, 'Your child has cancer.'

I hope you never have to hear, 'The prognosis is not good.'

I hope you never have to prepare your child to undergo radiation or chemotherapy, have a port surgically inserted into their chest, be connected to IV poles.

I hope you never have your child look at you with fear in their eyes and say, 'Don't worry Mommy, everything will be okay.'

I hope you never have to hold your child as they vomit green bile.

I hope you never have to feed them ice chips for lunch.

I hope you never have to watch the 'cure' you pray for slowly take away their identity, as they

lose their hair,

become skeletal,

swell up from steroids,

develop severe acne,

become barely or unable to walk or move,

and look at you with hope in their eyes and say,

'It's going to be okay, Mommy.'

I hope that you never have to stay in the hospital for weeks, months, or years at a time, where there is no privacy, sleeping on a slab, with your face to the wall, where you cry in muffled silence.

I hope you never have to see a mother, alone, huddled, in a dark hospital corridor...crying quietly, after just being told, 'There is nothing more we can do.'

I hope you never have to watch a family wander aimlessly, minutes after their child's body has been removed.

I hope you never have to use every bit of energy you have left, with all of this going on around you to remain positive, and the feelings of guilt, sorrow, hope and fear, overwhelm you.

I hope you never have to see a child's head bolted to the table as they receive radiation.

I hope you never have to take your child home (grateful but so afraid) in a wheelchair because the chemo and radiation has damaged their muscles, 35 pounds lighter, pale, bald, and scarred.

And they look at you with faith in their eyes and say, 'It's going to be okay Mommy.'

I hope you never have to face the few friends that have stuck beside you and hear them say, 'Thank God that is over with,'...because you know it never will be.

Your life becomes a whirl of doctors, blood tests and MRI's and you try to get your life back to 'normal'.

While living in mind-numbing fear that any one of those tests could result in hearing the dreaded words...

'The cancer has returned' or 'The tumor is growing.'

And your friends become even fewer.

I hope you never have to experience any of these things...Because...only then...

Will you understand...

(author unknown)

TAKE JOY IN THE SMALL THINGS.....




And really WHO CARES if your house is a mess.....I'm happy I have my children so that they can wipe their paint filled hands on my clean hand towels...(Thanks Thijs)