Easter and so much more...

Oh...I am so far behind on this blog now! Lots to catch up on. I have to think back over the last few weeks to remember what we have done:)We had a really fun Easter weekend! It was busy with lots of hanging out with friends. Both of our families were out of town that weekend. On Good Friday we went to our church service and it was awesome...very powerful and meaningful. On Saturday afternoon/evening we had a big BBQ with a bunch of families. It was so much fun...we had a great Easter egg hunt for the kids! I was hoping the weather was going to be nice that day, but it was still a little chilly. But, the kids didn't seem to mind.
On Easter Sunday, we went to church again. It was a great celebration! We dressed the kids up in their new Easter clothes. The girls had matching dresses!We managed to get a family picture just before we left for church!
In the afternoon, we went to another friends house and hung out and then went to another friends house for dinner. Busy, busy, busy...but it was great visiting!

Jeff had Monday off too and we ventured to the mall to get our free sunglasses! I won a gift certificate several months ago for $1000 at Iris Optical. We were wanting until spring to get new sunglasses because we thought they would have more selection then. We both found pairs we liked and got them for free and we still have $700 left!!! We are going to give the rest to our parents to get new sunglasses:)On Friday, it was Gabby's 2nd birthday!!! I was thinking about her birth first thing in the morning because I had her just before 8am and her birth still seems to vivid in my mind. I can not believe how fast 2 years goes by. She is such a funny little girl and we love her pieces!!
We had a little kid birthday party for her in the morning and she had so much fun! I was again hoping to have the party outside, but the weather did not cooperate...it was very rainy:( We had food and cupcakes and the kids just played together.

Then on Saturday evening, I had a family dinner birthday party for her! All the grandparents and Malcolm and Kirsten and uncle Curt were here. Jeff BBQ'd hamburgers and we had yummy salads and cake too!!Malcolm and Kirsten came up for a visit on Friday night and left after church today! It was so great to see them again and hang out. I always love my visits with them:) I just wish they happened more often or that we lived closer. We love you guys!Cuddles with Aunty Kirsten!!

Marty had his 2 month shots yesterday and it was really sad to see him cry so much. I hate to see him in pain:( He cried really hard after the shots and even threw up from crying so hard. After a few minutes he calmed right down and fell asleep. He was a little out of sorts for the rest of the day and had a little fever. I gave him a little bit of Tylenol. He weighs 13 lbs and was 24 inches long yesterday at the health unit. He is growing out of lots of his sleepers already.On Sunday night he slept 9 hours at night!! I was so excited. And last night he slept 8 hours, so I hope this is a trend.
Well, I'm off to think of something to make for dinner!

Spring is here...

Ahhh, it finally feels like Spring!!! The weather has been beautiful the last couple of days and we are spending lots of time outside. I have been waiting for Spring to arrive for a while now and i'm so excited about it.

My brother came for a visit this past weekend and it was so great to see him again! My dad, my brother and Gabby all have birthdays in April and all within one week! We had a yummy greek dinner(thanks to dad!) on Saturday night and then some birthday cake for all of them.My mom and I and the kids went for a nice walk and to the park on Saturday morning. It was a beautiful sunny day! The girls are loving being outside these days. It was still a little chilly in the morning that day, so they are in their warm coats. Marty pretty much slept the whole time in the stroller.Gabby has been going on the potty sometimes!! We haven't really been potty training yet because of just having the new baby and she didn't seem ready. But, she sees Megan going on the potty and she wants to do whatever Meggie does!! Now she even asks to go pee-pee and takes off her pants.
We had an early Easter dinner with Jeff's parents and some other relatives on Sunday night. The kids had an easter egg hunt when we got there. They had a blast!! We are having a bunch of friends over this coming Saturday night for another easter egg hunt and a BBQ. The kids are going to have so much fun. I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!Marty is still doing great! I can not get over what a good baby he is. He still only wakes up once at night and it's usually about 4-5am. My last feed at night is 10pm, so I think that's pretty good! I do look forward to the day when he sleeps right throught the night though! He's getting big and now is growing out of his smallest sleepers. He will be 2 months next week. He is such a smiley little boy, he will smile for anyone, anytime...even in the middle of the night!!I tried to get some pictures last week with all 3 kids...it is a little tough to get a good picture with all of them looking at the camera. Gabby is usually the one that doesn't sit still long enough to get a decent picture, here are just a few of them...My parents left today to go to Saskatchewan for a week to visit my sister and family and Jeff's parents are leaving soon to go to Portland for the weekend. That means we have no family around this year for Easter. Jeff has a four day weekend, which I am excited about! I think he wants to get some projects done around the house. We also have church on Friday and then Sunday. I can't wait for the girls to wear their new Easter dresses on Sunday!! Maybe we will actually try and get a good family picture together. I don't think we even have one of all 5 of us yet.

I hope that you all have a blessed Easter weekend and remember the true reason for this holiday and the incredible hope we have in Jesus!

Party time!!

We've had a busy week! We have gone to 3 kid's birthday parties this past week. The first one was Saturday morning, the next Sunday afternoon and the third was last night. The parties were lots of fun with lots of chaos, as there were little kids everywhere!! The next birthday will be Gabby's in April!! I can't believe she is almost 2 already. They do grow up so fast.
I'm so glad that spring has finally arrived!! We don't have any snow left in our backyard now, but we still have a little bit in the front. Yesterday the girls played in the backyard for a couple of hours and they loved it! It's so nice to finally see some sunshine:) Although, I just read that we are possibly getting some more snow this weekend...not happy about that:(Nicole and I and our boys...only 8 days apart!!

Megan has her first professional haircut this past week. My mom stayed home with the 2 little ones and Megs and I went to the hairdresser. It's a kids haircut place called Beaners. The kids get to sit in a little jeep or a quad to get their haircut. Oh, and they get to watch a movie and Meggie thought that was pretty great! She sat so sit and did great getting her haircut and it looks so cute. It's angled like mine is, with her hair a little bit longer in the front than the back. She also chose to have some ribbons put in by the hairdresser!Jeff is running in a race on Sunday morning. Jeff and 4 other people are running a 1/2 marathon relay. Jeff has never really run before...so we will see how it goes! He has ran around our neighborhood a few times this week and he's been working out. What a crazy guy! Oh, and you should see his runners...they are held together with duct tape!!! He doesn't want to spend the money on new runners since this is kind of a one time thing. I want to go watch him run, but I'll have to see how things go because I'll have all 3 kids by myself.
We have a new interm pastor at our church and he is awesome!! He has a young family with kids similar is age to ours. He is so encouraging and we are so thankful to have him at our church. My dad was telling me that the attendance last Sunday was way up and there were 12 little kids in Megan's children's church class last Sunday. We have been praying that more young families would come to the church!! God is so good.
Marty is doing great and continues to be such a happy and content baby!! He's still sleeping great and only gets up once at night, usually between 3-4am and he's going to bed around 10pm. We have given him a few bottles this past week just to see if he would take it (since Gabby never did and I didn't have any freedom). Well, he took it no problem, so I will try to pump and give him a bottle every once in awhile to make sure he gets used to it. He is such a blessing to us!!!

My parents took the girls swimming this week and they had a blast!! Megan and Gabby both love the water. We haven't taken them swimming in a while, except for Meggie's lessons. Megan was even brave enough to put her face in the water!! I was so proud of her. Gabby went under a few times as well by accident and she did fine.
That's all I can remember about this past week...I hope you all have a great weekend!

Our weekend!!

We had a very fun and busy weekend at the coast!! My cousin Kirsten got married on Saturday and it was such a beautiful wedding. I was so blessed to be a part of their special day. The ceremony was so honoring to God and to Malcolm and Kirsten. Kirsten was one of the most beautiful brides I have ever seen...she was stunning!! We love you both and pray that God will bless your marriage always.Meggie all ready to watch aunty Kirsten come down the aisle!

The reception was at another church and it was also great! We were able to leave the girls with Rob and Leanne and we only took Marty along. It was such a treat to not have to entertain the girls and just be able to enjoy the reception. I was excited to see my brother and to introduce him to our little Marty! Marty was great during the whole day, he pretty much slept it away. At the reception, I got to meet a few of my blogging friends, Kelly and Kristal! It was great to finally meet them in person. I already felt like I knew them because of reading their blogs. It was really fun!!
Uncle Loren got to meet Marty for the first time!!

The trip went really well. The kids did pretty good on the trip down, Gabby got a little frustrated towards the end because she was tired of being in her carseat. I don't blame her! Marty pretty much slept the whole way, we just stopped once to feed him. Megan was happy as a clam playing her games on the laptop!Marty meeting his great-grandma for the first time!

Rob and Leanne were such great hosts to us this weekend. Leanne always had such wonderful meals for us, we were totally spoiled there! They watched the kids while we went to the rehearsal dinner and again during the wedding reception. We are so thankful for them!! We had lots of great visiting time together too. The girls had a blast playing with their kids and they already miss them.
The kids playing "log ride" on the stairs.

We went to their church on Sunday morning before we headed home. The trip home was pretty good. It was snowing quite a bit, but the van does great in winter conditions. At one point, all 3 of the kids were sleeping and we enjoyed the quiet time!

Our whole family has managed to pick up a little cold:( The girls and Marty have runny noses and Jeff and I feel the cold coming on with our sore throats. I guess it's better that we all get it at once and get it over with. I took Marty to the doctor yesterday for his one month check up. I can't believe he is one month old already...I can't imagine life without him!! He weighed 10 lbs
1 oz. He is in the 75th percentile. He is still such a good eater and sleeper. Last night I fed him at 10pm and he didn't wake up until 3:40am!!! What a good boy.

We have a busy weekend coming up. We have a birthday party on Saturday morning and another birthday party on Sunday afternoon. I was invited to another birthday for some friends of mine on Saturday also, but I think it will be too much. Both of the parties are for Megan and Gabby's friends and there are going to be lots of kids!! It should be fun.

I better get going and figure out something to make for dinner!

Our family of 5...

We have been adjusting well to being a family of 5!! Sometimes I can't believe we have 3 kids, but it's going really well. Marty is such a good baby and we love him to pieces!! The girls are totally in love with him and can not get enough of him. Megan often asks in the mornings if she can go wake him up so she can see him!
Marty has been getting up to feed only once at night for over a week now. I am loving that!! I feed him about 10pm and then he gets up to feed between 2-3am and then again between 6-7am. I usually go back to sleep then for a little bit if I can. He is such a content and happy baby!! He still sleeps a lot in the day, so he's pretty easy right now.We had a playdate on Tuesday and Marty got to meet his new friend! My friend had a baby boy a week before Marty was born. We get together every week for playdates and so these boys will be good buddies! It was nice to finally get out of the house and be with friends again. We were home for about a week after Marty was born and I could tell the girls (and me) were getting a little house bound! Jeff's mom has offered to take the girls every Monday for the whole day...what a treat for me. This past Monday, I went grocery shopping with just Marty and of course he slept the whole time. It was SO easy having only one child!! I totally forgot what that was like. Then Marty and I had a 2 hour nap together, it was wonderful:)We have been SO blessed by our many friends and family who have brought us meals over the last 2 weeks! I didn't have to cook one dinner in over a week and a half...we are SO thankful to all of you!!We are SO looking forward to next weekend when we get to celebrate with Kirsten and Malcolm as they get married!! I just think they are such an incredible couple and we feel blessed to be able to share this special day with them! I'm a little nervous to travel with 3 littles ones, but it's only 3 hours or so to get there. We are staying at our friends place and they also have 3 kids, so it will be a house full!! It will be great to see them again and our girls love to play with their girls.

That's all for now...