kinda cuddly

Happy Birthday To Jenna!!!!

Caterpillar Cake (banana cupcakes)

July 19th, 2007- Jenna's first birthday!

Madeline and I put up a "happy birthday" banner and balloons while Jenna was having her morning nap, so when she awoke, it was like a whole new world. She looked at the banner in admiration and stared in wonder at the balloons hanging from the light fixture. She knew something was up! Plus, we called her "birthday girl Jenna" all day too.
I invited my best friend Courtenay to come and partake in the festivities- which helped fill the void of no family in town... But it was fun. Jenna enjoyed her pizza (which Madeline helped make for her) and her cake (which I made for her). Jenna, like her sister, was in the process of getting her 2nd front tooth for her first birthday, so there were times of tears among the giggles.
She started to grasp the idea of ripping open the gifts and her sister was right there to make sure she did it right... and to take over and open them herself! (but would you expect any different from a 2 1/2 year old??)

Thank you everyone for your gifts!

Happy Birthday to Jenna... a month ago...

Since we were leaving before Jenna's 1st Birthday, we thought it would be fun to have a small birthday party (our care group) for both Jenna and David (David is a whole 1 - 1/2 hours older!) Jenna had a lot of fun with her cake- she didn't eat any, but enjoyed moisturizing her hair with it!! We also thought that a group photo of the kids would be nice (what you don't see is me jumping up and down making funny faces to have the children look in the general vicinity of the camera- hard to imagine me doing this, I know...) My token girls!

Madeline the Flower girl

July 7, 2007 Madeline was the flower girl for good friends of ours. We had been practicing the art of throwing petals for months now and the morning of the wedding, she had her game face on. She was so focused- she knew what she had to do...When I got her dressed, she looked at herself in the mirror and said "I'm a princess!" Once we got to the church and the bride arrived, she ran up to her saying "yeah, my partner's here, now we can start!" and "we are matching".
She did her job- she was the first one of the girls to go into the church- everyone was impressed by her- lots of gasps from the guests like it was the most beautiful thing they have ever seen... so, she did her job but refused to go and sit on the stairs of the stage. She stood there while the bridesmaids came through and then started to get a little grumpy right before the bride came in... so we went out! We ended up eating crackers out of her flower basket while my friends got married...
If Beverly (the bride) went anywhere that day, Madeline was not to far away yelling "Beverly, wait for me!!" While running with her hand out as if to say "stop". My brother was the photographer too, so that made it much easier to take pictures! My brother said " She is the only flower girl that hasn't been afraid of me!!" (with good reason- she loves her uncle) She was just amazing that day- an early morning and a late night... plus playing with her beloved cousin Emily- she only had a few small moments of grumpiness. Then she had a good, long night sleep. Our flower girl, our princess!

She's turning ONE tomorrow!!????

hugs for everyone

"wardrobe malfunction"

I like food!!

Where has the time gone??
My beautiful little bundle is now a gorgeous little girl! Today she said "HI" to Grandma and Grandpa on the telephone so clear that my Mom had to ask if that was Jenna or Madeline!
The black and white pictures where taken yesterday in the "tent"- a discovery toys play tent that we bought for the girls last Christmas. We bought it with the intent (pardon the pun) that Jenna would like play in it down the road... well, here we are down the road- she loves it so much, it is hard to get her out of it!!!

I will post birthday pictures as soon as I can. One's from tomorrow and one's from last month (we had a party with our friends before we left)

Cordova Bay Park

Sunday morning, Cordova bay, Stew, Dawn, Madeline and Jenna...
There is something so indescribable about the Ocean- the smell so inviting yet kind of revolting; so sensual and mysterious yet gritty and dirty; such a landscape of beauty yet littered with refuse...
Anyway, there is something inside of me that totally relaxes when I see a body of water, namely the Ocean. Maybe I was a fish in another lifetime (snicker, snicker)
We all had fun and our friends who were just married and to whom Madeline was a flower girl were here too! They had taken a week off after their wedding to camp around the Island. It was nice to see familiarity!
Madeline encountered a jellyfish and 2 crabs (which she so casually referred to as "beetles")
After some serious swinging, Jenna fell asleep in her stroller..Jenna, almost One!!!!

MORE of the new place

madeline and jenna are sharing a room here too!

we are glad we brought at least one piece of artwork...

So, here are some more pics... now you can get the idea. It is a very nice house and we are very happy! Our landlord is great and really easy going. He has been doing a lot of yard Reno's as of late to make our stay even better! We live off of a main artery of town (Saanich) so we don't have to go far for what we need. Stew's walk to UVIC is about 15 minutes-- he will be getting a bike soon which will make his commute easier. All is well here-- last week the heat broke a record from 1951!!!!! 38 degrees Celsius (we missed our AC that day!!) but now there is a gentle, cool breeze- lovely!

The new place

So, here is half of the house, blogger will only allow me to post 4 pictures at a time...
It is very similar to our other house so that makes it all the more comfortable for everyone... similar except for the kitchen... it is very large! I was just mentioning to Stew the other day that we are both able to do something in the kitchen and our bums don't touch!!!!!!

Ahhhhh, no more moving...for now

It's perfect!~

The house is great, the back yard is great, the street is quiet... and the children are happy!!!
It has been quite the 11 days apart from Stew. We were fortunate enough to have a nice house to stay in for our time in Kamloops after Stew left, but it is SOOOO fantastic to be a family again! The girls were definately acting out because of the displacement and the lack of their daddy... but last night when we got here, the girls stopped being the way they were (which wasn't good) and became angels again!!!!!!
It's all good now, a big sigh of relief from Mommy, a big sigh of comfort from the girls, a big sigh of companionship from Stew...
Now it's time to play!
(sorry, no pictures this time, I will get some of the house etc... soon)