Last weekend, on Father's Day, we trekked down to the States and met at a Ferndale park for a family picnic. We were all prepared for it to pour down rain, so the sunshine and fairly warm air were a welcomed surprise. The kids enjoyed the outdoors, and loved that Papa and Auntie Christi took them to the barn to meet the animals.

It was a great Father's Day. It was wonderful to spend time with my Daddy-o...


And my brother, also a 'Superdad' to (almost) 3 boys! He and his wife are adopting another baby from Taiwan, little Caleb. And we're all excited to meet him soon. Here he is with cute weetle Ethan.


Grandma had fun playing ball with the kids...


And Ethan had fun teasing Kaitlyn with attempted kisses...

I realize Father's Day was almost a week ago, and I'm just now writing this post. But, seriously, it takes me almost a half hour to get my pictures from my camera to my computer. My Canon Rebel keeps turning off during the upload process, so it errors out. I don't understand it! I don't have time to dilly-dally for that long. So, therefore I rarely take the time to get the pictures off my camera. And, that is my long-winded explanation for my delayed blogging.

Now, that you are bored, and I'm out of pictures, I'll be done for now.

Oh, except, you want to know something cool? I bumped into a never-met-in-real-life-before blogging friend at Ikea last weekend. How nifty is that!

Two days ago, I officially embarked on a new Motherhood adventure: cloth diapering. I was nervous, excited, scared and giddy all at the same time. I had no idea that at the end of my two-day trial period that I would even remotely feel the way that I do....AMAZED. At the ease of cloth diapering, the quality of the diapers I chose, the comfort that they give my baby, and the insane CUTENESS of her cloth-diapered baby bum.

So, here's a crash course in cloth diapering. In a feeble attempt to get someone to join me on this cloth diapering adventure...




1. Buy Bumgenius 3.0 One-size Diapers. They are super cute, and extremely absorbant.











2. Buy Kushies flushable liners to line the diaper with. Use these during the time of day your little one most likely fills their diaper. Then, it's an easy clean. Simply shake the contents of the diaper & liner in the toilet, flush, and toss the diaper in the pail.







3. At the end of the day, throw the diapers in the washer: rinse in cold, wash in hot with additive-free detergent & hang dry. And they'll be ready for you in the morning!

Why didn't someone tell me this was so easy? And cheap! And way more cute than disposable diapers!

Have I convinced you yet to give it a try?



(Final note: I am still no where near an expert on cloth diapering. I just wanted to share a bit of my experience thus far. So, please don't be shy to send more cloth diapering advice my way. Thanks, ladies!)

This morning, we were driving in the car, and came upon a big amount of constuction. Eva was so excited, she was clapping and bouncing up and down in her car seat. Our conversation went like this...

Eva: Wow, oh wow! Are those diggers?

Me: Yep, looks like it.

Eva: Wowwwww. You can have the small digger. And I can have the mid-size digger. Ok?

Mid-size? Where does she come up with this stuff? I guess she's her Father's daughter!

Just a couple minutes later, during the same car-ride, we were telling "Knock Knock" jokes. We would take turns starting the joke & answering it, and then we'd all laugh. After a few rounds, she decided she just wanted to tell the joke just to herself, and asked if I would be quiet. I complied. And she proceeded to tell herself a joke very quietly...

Eva: Knock Knock. Who's there? Sticky! Sticky Who? Sticky Glue all over you!...... Hmmmm, nobody is laughing. People are supposed to laugh when I tell a joke. Hmmmmm...nobody's laughing, why isn't anyone laughing?

Poor Eva. I gave her a courtesy laugh just because she's so cute.

We enrolled Eva in gymnastics last January, in hopes that she would learn socializing & listening skills- and also how to be without Mom nearby. As an added bonus, she had tons of fun, has gained more confidence, and learned some pretty neat stunts.

We had the pleasure of going to her end-of-year show on Wednesday (my Mom, Dad, Nich and I were all there to cheer her on), and she loved putting on a performance! What a little outgoing, talented girl. I am SO proud of her (tears welling up in eyes...no one warned me that becoming a Mom would make me so unreasonably emotional).

Without further adieu, pictures from her show...




And here she is, with all the other "Tumble Bugz" her age...lookin' a bit like a leader, wouldn't you say?



We are so thrilled with the program, and her love for it, that we are enrolling her again in the Fall. I am already looking forward to the next show..

It's official, we're moving to our new place (a real house, a real house!) on July 25th.

Here's Eva and our (awesome) Realtor putting up the 'SOLD' sign.

Note that there are seven other Realtor signs that are yet to don a 'SOLD' sticker. It was tough to sell, our complex has not had a sale in quite a few months. But against all the odds (and let me tell you, there were A LOT of odds) - God totally came through for us, and we sold...for the perfect price on the perfect dates.

God is good.

Did you know disposable diapers take 500 years to decompose? So, now I've got to thinking... maybe I should change my Pampers-clad baby into something a little more earth-friendly.

But, this I know. I'm a diapering wimp. So I'm pretty sure I wouldn't last if I decided to go the cloth diapering route.

These adorable Gdiapers, though? They have captured my attention. You can either flush or toss the disposable insert. AND, if you choose the tossing route- it's pretty guilt-free, because they only take 90 days to decompose.

So, I'm wondering, has anyone given these Gdiapers a try?

A mere 4 days after arriving home from our Summerland trip, we packed our bags (again!) and headed across the border for another trip- to my Grandma's condo in Birch Bay. It was a nice, relaxing stay. I could really get used to this vacation-every-weekend thing we have going on.

My Grandma spoiled us with lots of yummy food and treats. And Eva has a new best friend. She wanted to do everything with Great Grandma by her side. It was so sweet.

The weather was a bit cold and breezy, but the beach was still pretty. And it was perfect weather to sip on local lattes and watch the Bald Eagle that was perched atop the tree right outside the condo.

We also visited a goat farm while we were there (and saw a 1-week old baby goat! precious!). Great Grandma rented the "Barbie 12 Dancing Princesses" movie for the girls (it was totally cute and made me want 12 daughters. joking. sort of.).

And, to wrap up a wonderful stay, Grandma took us out to the famous Bob's Burger's! We'd all heard about how great their food was- and it totally lived up to our expectations. Deeelicious.

The other day, we were all hanging out in the den, being goofy. Kaitlyn was playing hide-and-seek under the table...


And we were dancing and swinging away to country music. That new song, "It happens" from Sugarland. Makes me giggle.


Kaitlyn and her Daddy...


Kaitlyn and her bunny are pretty much inseparable.

Just a minute ago, she was crying at the bottom of the stairs, so I moved the baby gate. Followed behind her as she crawled all the way up the stairs, toddled into her room, grabbed her bunny, and turned around to come back down again. She knows what she wants! So sweet.

We enjoyed a lovely, weekend trip up to Summerland this past weekend. It was so great to catch up with the Dykstra's, and Caleb and Eva were instant best friends all over again.



When it was time to go, Eva said she wanted to stay. And Caleb announced that Eva lived in Summerland now. Oh, young love. The stories we will tell when they get married in twenty years...

We also got to see this cool girl..

I am bummed that we live so far away from each other (she lives in Regina! I don't even know where that is on a map! (don't judge me, I'm American)). Anywaaays, I am trying to get her to move here, but so far it is not working. So, these quick visits every once-in-awhile are going to have to do for now.

The weekend flew right on by- we enjoyed picnics, trips to the lake, ice cream downtown, and my personal favourite- multiple trips to The Beanery.

I have so many pictures, but I'll just share ones of my cute nieces. If you're my Facebook friend, all these and more are on there...

Sweet Kaylie is the best big cousin ever! Eva & Kaitlyn would love to have her around more often, Jen...hint hint.

And I just ADORE this picture of little Liliana...