Karis Ann Lafleur

Our baby girl entered the world on Thursday, June 21st at 9:46 pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs and 14 oz. Her name, Karis, means grace. She is so beautiful and she is very well loved by her Dadda, Momma, and 2 big sisters.

Karis had a different birth plan than we did and arrived via c-section after a very hard labor. 

Ella and Juliette came to visit us in the hospital. At one point all 3 girls were sitting with Dadda and Ella asked "Dadda, do you have way too many girls?" 

Above is a picture of Dadda getting ready to take Karis home. Below is a picture of Dadda getting ready to take Ella home. Not only are baby Karis and Ella wearing the same sleeper, Dadda is also sporting the exact same outfit :). 

Above is baby Karis, below is baby Ella. Their newborn pictures look very similar.

Above and below are baby Juliette, who also wore the same sleeper on her way home from the hospital. Juliette had her own look as a newborn but now looks a lot like Ella.

Happy Father's Day!

The girls gave Dadda some nice cards and pictures for Father's Day. Ella was a little mixed up after Mother's Day and wished Dadda a "Happy Mother's Day" several times. When we were out for our afternoon walk, she wished another man we saw walking a "Happy Mother's Day". It was pretty funny.

I asked the girls what they liked to do with Dadda and wrote it down for them on their cards. Ella's list included: going for a walk, brushing my teeth, Dadda helps me clean up, Dadda teaches me to obey, going striding, going for a run, and Happy Mother's Day. Juliette's list said "I love Dadda". When I asked her what she likes doing with Dadda, she repeated "I love Dadda" again and again.

Belly Update

Here's our baby, 3 days before the due date. Ella arrived 3 days early and Juliette arrived 3 days late. Momma thinks this baby will arrive on June 20th and Dadda thinks baby will arrive on June 21st. We'll keep you posted!

More Birthday Fun...

Yesterday, Ella officially turned 3. We started the day by visiting with Sean and Moo. We sang 'Happy Birthday' to Ella and she was given a Nanaimo bar with a candle in it! She also received some Tinkerbell slippers and some stickers from Oma. What a great way to spend a birthday morning!

 In the afternoon, we went to the pool. The girls love going down the slide and we spent most of our time doing this.

After the pool, we went to White Spot for dinner.

Just when we thought the celebrating was done for the day, we had a message that Uncle Marzi and Auntie Jaynie were ready for an ichat. They had 3 cupcakes for Ella and sang "Happy Birthday" over the computer. Ella blew so hard at the end of the song that the candles all went out.

Juliette has been a great sport and has had lots of fun celebrating Ella's birthday. Here's a video of her singing to her sister. Since Ella had so much of the spotlight, Juliette decided to slip in a little "Happy Birthday Juju" into this clip.

Congratulations Ken!

Last Friday we had our Life Group wrap-up BBQ. We also celebrated because our friend Ken finished his last course and is receiving his high school diploma. He was also asked to be the valedictorian of his graduating class! Way to go, Ken!

Ella's 3rd Birthday Party

We celebrated Ella's 3rd birthday on Saturday. Her real birthday isn't until next Saturday, but new baby could arrive before then so we celebrated early. 

 We arrived at the clubhouse a little early and Ella said "where are all my friends?"

Juliette had a great time at the party and Ella even shared her new toys with her when we got home.

 She waited patiently for the fun to begin.

 We had a French themed birthday party with crêpes and Eiffel tower cupcakes.

 Ella was so excited to open her cards and her presents. She received so many nice gifts: sunglasses, new shoes, new puzzles, a water bottle... 

 Here she is in her "high heels", holding her new water bottle. She is wearing the cupcake dress she received from Grandma Jo-Ann. 

For the past few weeks, Ella has been concerned that somebody was going to blow her candles out at her birthday. Hudson and Jonas, who were seated right next to her, were very gracious and let Ella blow out her own candles.

Above is a video of Ella getting her cupcake and serving cupcakes to her guests. 

Happy (early) Birthday Ella!

 These are a couple of pictures that Uncle Marzi took of Ella while he was in town. 

 Ella and Juliette wearing their new nighties from Grandma Jo-Ann.

Here is Ella doing her quiet time. She loves to take all her dolls and stuffed animals and set them up on the stairs. They all sit together and "have a party".

Jonas turns 3!

While Dadda was at the men's retreat this weekend, we went into Vancouver to celebrate Jonas' 3rd birthday. We had a great time celebrating at the community fair near the Lung's house.  

The birthday boy blowing out his candles.

 Ella's favourite part of the party was riding on the train and it was the first thing she told Dadda when he got home. "I rode on a train, Dadda, I rode on a train!"

Our buddy Hudson

We have had so much fun having Hudson over at our house on Tuesdays. Sadly, tomorrow is our last day watching him. Hudson, Ella, and Juliette have lots of fun together and we like to call them "the 3 musketeers".

French Class

Since September, I've been tutoring French. We had our last class on Monday. The girls learned a lot and we had lots of laughs. On our last day everybody brought their favourite fruit and we made a "friendship salad". Since we had been learning about fruit in French, the girls said the name of their fruit as they mixed it into the salad. 

My class started as a class of 2 (Sophie and Emmalea) and then grew into a class of 5 (Penny, Sienna, and Ella joined us). Juliette mostly just played with Ms. Corinna and Ms. Jackie while I taught, but she joined us for the picnic at the end. 

Uncle Matt and Auntie Jaynie

Last weekend we had a visit with Uncle Matt and Auntie Jaynie. The girls had a great time with them and Juliette calls Jaynie "Jimmy". They were very grateful for a few new outfits, colouring books, and new haircuts. While they were visiting we celebrated Grandpa Clark's birthday (more pictures to come).