Canmore Trip

It was slightly disappointing that our Canmore week happened to be only one week after Spring Break. It wasn't going to stop us from missing a little more school and enjoying and extra long weekend.

 We stopped at the Calgary zoo again to break up the trip.

 Screamer! Kids could not wait their turn. It was too good.

 Our condo is feeling more and more comfortable each time we visit.

 We love mountain bike rides and throwing rocks in the river.

Grandma even came for a couple nights. She was sooo sweet to watch the girls one day so the rest of us could spend the day at Sunshine Village.

 It snowed the WHOLE day. Late April and we lucked out with the best snow I've seen all year. It was an amazing day. Elesa and Rayly even met up with us, which made it even better.

I follow a NieNie on instagram, and she has been posting a picture of her family every Sunday after church. I really liked the idea of documenting growth and progress throughout the year. So, I am going to take a family pic every time we are in Canmore. Brett and I have big dreams for our time in Canmore, and look forward to owning our little portion of the condo forever. Should be fun to see a little book of my kids growing up appreciating the beauty of the mountains.

Easter

We had a low key holiday. It was very nice. 

Earlier in the week my neighbour hatched some chicks, and allowed us to chick sit. We really liked having them, but were happy the mess belonged to someone else. We hope they do it again next year. The chicks were soo cute.

 The Easter Bunny came!

We had dinner with Brett's parents Sunday and dinner with my family Monday. Delicious!

Potty Training

I have been dreading potty training. Stella is now 2 years and 4 months, and my others were trained by now. I have been working part time, and there hasn't been a good time to really commit. With Spring break, and mandatory time off, I decided it was the best time to just get it done.

The first day we went through at least 12 pairs of panties. I was ready to quit, and Stella would cry for her diaper. Day two, still had a few accidents, but mostly she'd start to pee, catch herself and finish the rest on the potty. By day 3, she was solid. We even brought her to church no trouble, later that week she was dry as we drove to Calgary and spent the day at the zoo.

She has been awesome. She will ask to go, and is comfortable asking her babysitters, and is starting to wake a little at night. It's an amazing feeling to be practically done with diapers FOREVER!

Spring Break

We didn't have a lot planned for spring break this year. I didn't want to send Wyatt back to school with nothing fun to report, so I decided to take the kids to Calgary for the night and then to the zoo. I am a bit of a home body, and would love to stay where I'm comfortable. It was also quite empowering to make to Calgary with all three kids, stay the night in a hotel (even go to the pool), and then the zoo and home all by myself. We missed dad, but he was on a little work trip of his own so was not able to join us. 

 Isla was ready to move into the hotel.

 Room service!

 A chilly day at the zoo, but there were very few other people there so we had the place to ourselves.

 We were very happy that our cousins were willing to meet up with us on their way home from Canmore.

A little adventure with lots of fun.

My buddy

Since starting school, the time we spend with this little guy is limited. I am SOOO lucky to be his mom. He is so sweet, generous and the very best big brother. He has unending patience for his sisters, and is very quick to forgive his quick tempered mom.

He has really developed a love of reading lately. He flew through the Harry Potter series, and he has started and finished another novel before I even know what he's reading.

 He doesn't draw as much as he used to, but I"m always impressed when he does.

 He has really picked up skiing this last year. We had a seasons pass at Sunridge, and he spent at least 5 days in the mountains. He is naturally a pretty careful and timid kid, but he snowplowed his way through some treacherous terrain. No matter the weather, he was always happy to be out on the hill. I am already excited to see how much he develops in the next few years. I see a lot of family fun in the mountains in my future.

Wyatt has been taking piano lessons this year after his 3 years with the Let's Play Music program. It is so fun to see how much he has learned in a single year of private lessons. He played in the music festival this year, and even though he was quite nervous, and totally mixed up his second piece. He powered through to the end as best as he could and finished with a smile. I was very proud. It seemed so mature of him to not get flustered or upset. He carried on and held his head high.

I'm one proud mom. He is an amazing little man!

BFF's

Brett has been incredibly supportive of my girl time! This is the first year I think that circumstances have allowed for this kind of reunion. With Kaycee in Red Deer, and Elesa in Calgary, we have made fairly regular dinner dates in Red Deer, summer sleepovers with ALL our kids, and this winter snowboard adventures. I adore these girls!! We have always been close, but these last few years we have really made an effort to stay connected. I'm so glad we have. We used to LOVE snowboard trips way back before moves, husbands, children etc. It's nice to get back to things we love, with people we love spending time with. A quick day trip to Sunshine was the first of many mountain adventures in the near future I hope.

Sisters

I may have mentioned this before, but one of the BIGGEST reasons I was willing to have another baby was so Isla could have a sister. I definitely lucked out that Stella was in fact a sister, but there is just something about Isla's personality that needed a little playmate and someone to watch out for. 

These girls have become the best of friends. As Stella's vocabulary increases, and she understands the little games girls like to play- they continue to strengthen their love for each other. For quite a while it was very one sided. Isla loved to over love Stella, and Stella loved to play hard to get. Now I hear them giggle together all day long. They are the best little companions running errands and cleaning up. I just love that they will have each other as best friends forever. 

I had Stella for Isla, and we have another little SURPRISE coming at the end of the month that I think Stella will appreciate the most. But that is for another post.