Dates, Mother's Day, and a Beaver Sighting

This little girl loves her Dadda. Spencer takes one of the kids on a date every Monday. Ella always looks forward to this one on one time with Dadda. She often tells me, "Mom, you married the best Dadda." Last week they went for a hike down at our local creek.

I spent last weekend at Rockridge Canyon for the Village Women's Retreat. To be honest, I don't always look forward to women's events as I often feel a little shy around that many women. This retreat was so so good and I am so thankful that Spencer encouraged me to go. I learned so much about prayer and intentional living and came back feeling renewed and refreshed. I am also so inspired by the women in our church. It was truly a Spirit-filled weekend.

While I was away the girls took great care of Dadda. Ella told me that she would "make things lovely"while I was away. She said that Dadda is great, but things are not always as "lovely" when I am not there. So sweet. The girls even let Dadda sleep in one day while they got the boys up and made breakfast. Such a blessing.

Karis and Juju have a special bond. They continue to love to play moms together. These girls are inseparable. When Juju is finished her school work, she will go find Karis and say "Karis, M-O-M-S!" This is code for "do you want to play Moms?"

The other day while I was making lunch Karis asked me if I would like to play moms. She told me I could pretend that I was the mom making lunch. How ironic.

We continue to develop our crochet skills. Anyone in need of potholders?

Spencer hung out with the Balasabas family while I was away.

Peter sleeping with a car and a bus (hidden under him). He takes cars with him everywhere.

We take a scooter ride to the park most days before lunch.

I love that the girls race ahead of me to get to the bridge to see what kind of nature they can spot in the pond. Seeing their love and knowledge of nature over this past year has been incredible.

There is a construction site that can be seen from our dining room window. The boys have spent a lot of time observing the paving of the road. Peter loves to give me a play by play of the action. "Mom, Mom, there is a huge blue truck now. And the digger is digging!!"

Math time.

Karis is working through the math book that Juliette recently finished. Juliette is very eager to help Karis when she doesn't understand. It is very sweet to see and a great way for Juju to reinforce her skills.

Last Friday our nature group visited the Capilano Hatchery.

We loved observing the Coho fry.

Yesterday we went for a post-dinner walk to Robson Park. And we saw 2 beavers. The kids were ecstatic! The beavers swam right under the bridge we were standing on. They were gathering branches to add to their lodge. The girls scootered up and down the path to follow the beavers and track their every move. At one point we scared one of the beavers and he slapped the water with his tail to defend himself. We are so thankful for this bit of nature that we have in our neighborhood. It is a blessing. We have had countless conversations with other neighbors who also come down to the pond to stand on the bridge and observe nature. We have heard grandpas and grandmas share their expertise on the heron, the eagles, the various species of ducks, and the beavers.

This guy is quite big!

And some pictures from Mother's Day. I came home to this precious crew, some new patio chairs, and a new path in our backyard.

I also received this new shirt. It says "Elle est forte" which means "she is strong" for those of you who need to brush up on their French.

Last Wednesday Spencer and I got out for a date. We try to get out on a date night once a month. We are committed to investing in our marriage and I am so thankful to be married to "the best Dadda."

One Fine Day

After a crazy week last week with several doctors appointments and a couple of trips to the ER, we were very thankful for a day of summer weather this week. 

Last week Silas saw our doctor and we were advised to take him to ER to check on his hydration levels after throwing up for 4 days in a row. Our sweet little baby is doing great now. Then, the following day, Juliette woke up with a skin infection that spread rapidly. The doctor also sent us to the ER. After taking antibiotics her infection healed quickly.

We are very thankful to have had a week with no emergency appointments. And on Thursday the weather was so beautiful. The temperature was like summer which was a treat in the middle of our very cold spring.

We took full advantage of the beautiful day and set the sprinkler up under the trampoline and also enjoyed a picnic lunch at the park.

Peter loves to ride his bike to the park and look for "Mr. and Mrs. Mallard." One of his favorite books is "Make Way for Ducklings" and in this book Mr. and Mrs. Mallard are the main characters.

We have been learning new crochet techniques.

Above are a few of Peter's favorite books. Not pictured here, but also one of his favorites, is "The Little Blue Engine." He often refers to people as "kind engine" when they do something nice for him. The other day he asked me to put his shoes on and after I did this for him he looked at me and said "thank you, kind engine." 

Peter is also a big fan of nursery rhymes. One of his favorites is "Jack and Jill." Often when he falls down, he comes to me crying and says "Momma, I broke my crown."

We are reading "Understood Betsy" as our family read aloud. It is incredible. So so good! We have been purposely reading it slowly because we do not want it to end. Unfortunately the book only has 2 more chapters. The last chapter had Juju and I in tears. We are the most likely to cry during a read aloud, but the book is so touching and beautiful it is hard not to. I highly recommend it.

Reading to my boys. And I gave Peter a haircut.

We love our picnics. 

I'm so thankful for Ella. When Peter gets tired on a long walk and my arms are full with Silas, she is always willing to carry her little brother. These two have such a sweet bond. The other day Ella told me that when they get older they will most likely be business partners.

This crew has been busy at work trying to rid of our dandelion problem in our front yard.