End of an era

For the first time, we have to start buying clothing for Madeline. Up until now, her wardrobe has soley relied on hand-me-downs and gifts. *Thank you SOOOO much Krina* ** Thank you SOOO much Grandma's and Grandpa's** We took a trip to Value Village the other day and I found this t-shirt. I found one before this one that said "it's all about me" and, as true as that seems some days, I definately don't want her to get the wrong idea, so I laughed, showed Stew (who said, "yeah...um...funny, but NO) and put in back on the rack. THEN, I found one much more appropriate. "FIRECRACKER"- if you read my previous post about our Madeline and her excentricities, and if you know her well, you will understand that this shirt emulates her personality. And she LOVES the shirt. "Firecraker to the rescue!!" She yells at the top of her lungs while running around the house- fist upstretched. "I save the crackers on fire" she says ;)

The Flower Jungle

Jenna realized that I had the camera pointed at her so she decided to get silly

This is right before the stinging nettle got us. Madeline escaped unharmed...




We discovered a beautiful little field full of wildflowers that is cared for by the surrounding houses. It is just down the street from our house. Girls and their flowers...
Jenna would purposely fall onto her back staring up at the sky and wiggle around and giggle with glee as she batted at the flowers surrounding her. Madeline was too busy to sit still (no surprise). She needed to explore. She roamed the fields and pathways searching for the biggest and best flowers to pick. Some were so big that not even Stew or I could break the stems... She would keep trying anyway. With her hands full of bundles of buttercups, lupins, clover and grass, she would hand them off in order to pick more. Madeline will definately do wonderful things in life with her enthusiasm and determination!
On a whole different wave length, I was given a book from the infant development center that we have been working with for Jenna. It is entitled "Raising your spirited child" written by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka. For a while, Stew and I were very concerned about Madeline as she showed signs of potentially unfortunate diagnoses. Then this book came my way. It is a guide for parents whose child is "MORE"!! More intense, sensitive, perceptive, persistent and energetic. The author gives specific examples of each and then rates them on a scale. Madeline is on the extreme end of every one. While reading this book I kept flashing back to the cover thinking it was called "Raising your Madeline Rylee- survival guide". The book has given us (Stew and I) so much more insight into our daughter. The author also gives practical solutions to common situations and lots of wonderful information!!

Anyway, the "flower jungle" as it is affectionately named by Madeline is the hot spot right now. Every spare minute they have, Madeline and Jenna want to go for a walk to the FJ. We are seriously enjoying the rural-ness of Fort Langley. Unfortunately it is not feasible for us to buy our own home here. It's just too much$. We are in the process of putting our house up for sale in Kamloops and have an agent coming over tonight to start looking for a house down here (hopefully a townhouse in Walnut Grove). WG still provides a rural feel but is still close to everything we need. This whole process is up to God. It's a nice feeling to start coming down to the ground from the leap of faith we have been in... but this remains to be seen too...