First Days

Again, I’m over a month behind on this one, but I still wanted to post pictures of Kiera’s first day of grade 1 (September 4) and Blake’s first day of Preschool (September 12).

The first time I told her to smile

The 2nd time I told her to smile without bending over

Ready to walk to the bus stop

She was excited that she got to ride the bus (she asked many many times last year when we lived only a few blocks from her school)

I made a special supper to celebrate the first day of school: cinnamon roll pancakes which were absolutely delicious!

Blake’s first day of Preschool picture…oh how I love this boy!

He really likes his Cars backpack and finally saw the movie Cars 2 a couple of weeks ago.  He still hasn’t seen the first movie, though!

I love his expression as he was looking at all the toys and activities in the Preschool classroom for the first time.

He went straight to the train table and started playing.

And then there was one…

I found this dress in a bin of Kiera’s old clothes and it’s size 24 months, so I quickly had to put it on her for church before she outgrows it.  It’s the dress that I bought at a garage sale when I was pregnant with Kiera and REALLY hoping I would have at least one daughter who could wear it someday (we never found out the genders while pregnant) and now I have 2 girls who have worn it!  God gave me the desire of my heart. :)

It’s fun celebrating all of the firsts!  I only cried a little bit on Kiera’s first day of school as it was her first time being in school full-time and that first day was a bit too quiet (I ended up turning on worship music) and felt long but now we’re all used to it.  I like the summer and not being on a schedule but I’m also enjoying our new fall, somewhat busier schedule. :)

The Rest of Summer

Since it’s fall now, I figured I should finish up posting the rest of our summer pictures.  What else did we do this summer?

Kiera passed her 2nd level of swimming lessons

Fearlessly putting her head in the water

We surprised the kids and took them to a place with rides, which they were very excited about!

It was Haley’s first time there and she really enjoyed it

Blake went on 3 rides and didn’t want to go on anymore, so the staff kindly let us switch his wristband to Haley, so then she could go on unlimited rides.

This was her favorite and she went on it at least 5 times, maybe more.

This was a new ride that Kiera hadn’t been on before

She went on this tall slide again this year by herself.  Heights don’t scare her.

She also went on a small rollercoaster with Jared, which was a new one for her as well.

What else happened this summer?  Jared washed my water bottle in the dishwasher, which it wasn’t supposed to ever be put in the dishwasher.  It shrunk.

I bought a new dishwasher-safe bottle which I really like and take almost everywhere with me, since it was already announced on Facebook that I’m a water snob (or water princess) with my love for distilled water.

There was quite a bit of dressing up this summer.

This is me + Jared’s favorite: during prayer time at supper, Haley squeezes her eyes shut and it makes us laugh every time.

We went to the splash park several times at the end of summer and this was our last time there with friends.

At the beginning of the summer, none of my kids wanted to even get wet and by the end Kiera and Blake were running through the water.  Yay!!

Haley preferred to stay a safe distance away or have me hold her while she got her feet wet on top of the mushroom things.  She got heavy and then would throw a fit when I put her down.  I’m hoping next summer she will do better at the splash park.

The kids sometimes liked to play winter (it’s winter for almost half the year and then in summer they want to play winter…go figure), so they would put on toques, mitts and sometimes their parkas and ski pants.

They thought it was the funniest thing for me to take pictures of them with their butts sticking out.

We really enjoyed the summer and tried to make the most of it since we didn’t do any overnight trips.  Fun was had by all!

Thoughts on 30

In a month from Friday (October 20), I will be turning 30.  That number is a bit strange for me.  It’s not bad but just sounds weird after being in my 20’s for the past 10 years.  Most of my friends are already 30+ so that’s kind of nice for me. :)  I’m actually really looking forward to my 30’s as we are now out of the baby stage, we will leave diapers behind, and Lord-willing we will finish our yard and basement, eventually get a different car that doesn’t have a dented front bumper and a hole in the back bumper (ha ha) and there will be many new changes with our kids growing up. 

I am hoping and praying that as I enter my 30’s that I will leave all of the health problems behind that I’ve struggled with non-stop since last Christmas.  After having mono in the winter, I started having strange symptoms a few months later and found out in July that I have CMV (cytomegalovirus), which is in the mono family and can affect the body neurologically.  It’s a virus that just goes away on its own and most of my symptoms have gone away, praise the Lord, but it’s not totally better yet.  I haven’t been very vocal about it because some of the symptoms have freaked me out and resembled other illnesses and our culture in general is very good at feeding fear, so it’s not something I’ve wanted to post about on Facebook or blog about.  I don’t need everyone’s opinions or horror stories.  My doctor wasn’t concerned once the blood test results came back showing CMV, so I know I shouldn’t be, either.  I’ve shared details with people I know will pray for me, believe with me and encourage me.  Every day I have a choice to fear or to trust the Lord.  I continue to trust that He is my healer as I wait.

Back to turning 30: some people have made lists like “30 things to do before turning 30.”  I don’t have a list.  Well, not an official one, although maybe it’s official now that I’m putting it on my blog.  The biggest things I wanted to do before 30 were get married, which I did at 22, and be done having kids, which I was done at 27. There are a few little things I would like to do in the next month.  They are:

1. Go for gelati in a nearby town.  I’ve only been once before and the price was low, the portion was big and it was incredibly yummy!

2. Go to Ikea.  I have never been to Ikea and now that one opened up not too far away, I have scheduled a shopping trip there this month, yay!!  Even though I may not buy anything, I still want to go see it.

3. Go to a nearby bakery that I’ve never been to.  I’m a fan of them on Facebook, yet I have not even been there yet!  I grew up with the girls who opened it up in my hometown, so my friend from Capernwray said we gotta go there together.  Yes, my friend who is from the west coast has been there before I have.  It’s high time I go check it out.

That’s my simple list.  I love surprises, so I told Jared that I want him to plan something for my 30th birthday and surprise me.  I told him I would either like to have a huge party, go out with a bunch of friends, or maybe even go away overnight with some friends, although that last one isn’t likely.  He doesn’t really like planning things like that, so I really hope I’m not disappointed.  I told my girlfriends that I don’t want to turn 30 quietly, so if any one of you wants to help Jared if he needs it or check with him to see how things are going, feel free to.  I think each new decade is a big deal, so I want to celebrated BIG!  If it means having multiple parties to fit everyone in, I’m good with that, too.  I just don’t want to plan it.  Maybe that’s silly but I’m ok with silly.  I used to think 30 was old but now I know better, ha ha.  Funny how old just keeps getting older.  My grandparents are in their 80’s and don’t think they’re old, so I guess you’re only old if you think you are! ;)

Another Cousin’s Wedding

2 of my cousins got married this summer, the first one was from my Mom’s side and the 2nd one was from my Dad’s side.  It was outdoors on my aunt + uncle’s yard.  At lunch time that day, there was a thunderstorm with hail and it really wasn’t looking good.  By the time the wedding started at 4:00, it was GORGEOUS outside!  Perfectly sunny with no wind.  God certainly answered many prayers that day! 

They had these cans of flowers at the end of every row, which I really liked.

My cousins’ kids were a flower girl and ring bearer along with the bride’s niece and they were so adorable!

Here comes the bride

My Grandpa officiated

Their parents prayed for them

The groom’s family (who I’m related to)…aren’t they beautiful?

They had an accordion player in between the ceremony and reception

My cousin and my cousin’s daughter dancing

The food truck

I loved this stand with lemonade, iced tea and freezies

The bride and groom made all the wine at the wedding

We sat with my cousin and her husband…love them!

There were beautiful flowers on every table

I LOVED this idea!  At the end, everyone got sparklers and there were 2 rows of torches which we all used to light the sparklers.  Then, the bride and groom ran through, stopped at the end to kiss and then left in their car.  You can see them at the end in the middle.

It was a wonderful end to a beautiful wedding!