My little big man

Lately, Oliver has been a bit of a handful. Ever since he has learned how to talk he sure likes to practice it. I've never had so many questions to answer before in just one car ride. Not to mention that he LOVES attention and wants a lot of it. Sometimes he tests my patience...but even then he's just so cute to watch and listen to. A couple things lately that I've noticed. He loves to share. Sometimes it goes a little too far...he snuck some easter eggs into school and tried to share them with a girl who has a severe peanut allergy. We got a call from the teacher that day. Today, he tried to share my water bottle with the 18 month old at the park. How do you blame a kid for being so darn nice?!
He's a typical kid. Full of energy. His biggest phase at the moment is "working boys" stemming from his t shirt with a crane on it. He points those working boys out when we pass construction sites. He's also very particular and proud of his shirts. He likes to show anyone and everyone he meets. He is my hardworking little big man and he likes to help out with everything. He helped me wash the dishes the other day...and only 2 broken dishes later they were done! Here's a few shots of my little man in action.

such a good big brother

hard at work...my "workin' boy"

He's cute eh?

This is where we will probably spend a lot of time this summer...

Spring

I'm back! Sort of. I'm attempting to resume blogging and it's not coming easy. This whole being creative stuff doesn't come easy to me and I spend way too much time messing around. Unfortunately time is not something I have a lot of so my posts will be short and hopefully sweet. How fitting for my first post that it is Spring. One of my favourite times of the year. I love the smell in the air and the beautiful colours of the fresh new grass and beautiful spring flowers. It's a time for new beginnings. This is mine.

Never let go

There's something about this song that brings tears to my eyes everytime I hear it. For me, life is like a roller coaster...up and down, throwing you one way and yanking you another, twisting and turning, sometimes completely upside down. I think it is so amazing to know that God is always there and in control, even when things seem so out of control.


Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back
I know you are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

(Chorus:)
Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We'll live to know You here on the earth

(Chorus)

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You

Back Home

So we've been home for a week now and everything seems back to normal...amazing how it already feels like it was a really long time ago since we were there. We had a great time, I will miss being able to visit with my Irish family. Some of the things I will miss are: going for coffee at Roughans and having bacon baps, the ice cream - so different and so good!, apple tart, scones with jam and cream (we did a lot of eating while we were there!) fish and chips with lots of malt vinegar and salt, wheaten bread (I'm starting to think it was all about the food:), the smell of peat fires, the fresh ocean air, watching the waves crashing over the rocks, driving on the wrong side of the road, the amazingly beautiful scenery of the countryside, my cousins, and I can actually say I enjoyed shopping there because all the stores are different, I especially enjoyed grocery shopping because of all the different stuff they have.
I won't miss the fact that we had to double the price for everything we bought which makes it a little pricy, or the separated taps for hot and cold - honestly I can't believe they haven't phased those out! Also kind of strange are their showers which have machines that heat the water as you use it and only one person in my entire family has a clothes dryer which means everything goes on the line - o.k. when it's not raining!
Just wanted to write a few of these things down so I won't forget - it's amazing how bad my memory is getting! I also have put all my photos on facebook because it is way easier to load them on there and I can get more on, in case you're wondering.

Our trip so far

We finally got organized and made it to the airport on Sunday. We checked our bags and realized we had somehow overpacked and were a little overweight...11kilos @ $10 per kilo...ouch! We'll try to pack lighter on the way back, and we will also be able to disperse our stuff between the family, my dad only has one small bag, so we'll give him all the heavy stuff. I was amazed at what they've done at the vancouver airport since the last time I was there. They must have got lots of money from the improvement fees cause they sure spent a lot of money. It looks really good, there was a river running through the waiting area with a massive fish tank at the end.
The flight was good, and more importantly Oliver was good...thanks to baby einstein videos(thanks to mom sawatsky for lending her portable dvd) they work like a charm. He slept for the last 4 hours of the flight. It actually went quite fast.
I made the mistake of letting him nap when we got back to Sandra and Alec's house because that night I put him to bed at 7pm and I went to bed around 9:45, and then he woke up at 11pm wide awake. I thought he'd be up maybe an hour or two and go back to bed but no...he stayed up to 5:30am despite my best attempts to get him to go back to sleep. So I had about 5 hours of sleep in 2 days. I woke him up again after 3 1/2 hours and kept him up all day. He did amazingly well with only 7 hours sleep in 2 days. The next night he slept all night from 9:30 to 10am.
Dave has rented a car and taken off up north to see what he can see in the next 4 days before we fly to Ireland.
Yesterday Alec took us on a really nice drive through the Scottish countryside. We stopped for a quick hike up one of the hills with the sheep and the view was amazing!
I think I have a weird obsession with the old buildings here. I like all the old doors and chimneys! I don't know if it's because I used to watch Mary Poppins when I was little? There is so many good photo ops here! We've had great weather since we got here, unfortunaly I am cameraless for the next couple days because I made Dave take it so I could see where he went. So today we went to the art gallery in Glasgow and I couldn't take any pictures. Hopefully we will get to go back.
My mom called today and was saying that Julie arrived in London and everything was good. She said Natalie wouldn't get in the car when they got there because the car was "backwards" because the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car...Haha...poor girl in such a strange place! After they explained that all the cars here are like that she got in.
A few more days here and then we fly to Ireland on Saturday. I'm hoping Dave will make if back in time from his adventure!

I Love Spring

So here are some new pictures for you, as you can tell, I'm all about the photos! My favourite time of year is from April to July, I love how green and fresh everything is. Oliver has been exploring more outside, he likes to eat dirt...and rocks. In another month he will be 1 year old!
We have booked our trip to Ireland, finally, I can't believe how complicated that was. The whole family is going, all 10 of us. It's slightly complicated because we are all leaving at different times and landing in different places and meeting in Ireland the first week of August. Julie is flying on her own with the kids to London to stay with a friend for a week, and Jon is joining them later as he has to work till Aug 3rd. Dave and I will be flying to Scotland on July 22nd and staying there for a week until my mom and Jen arrive on Saturday the 28th. We will then fly to Ireland together. My dad is leaving in 3 weeks (June 12th) and staying for 2 months. So Dave and I will be gone for almost a month...yippee!
We have also finally just planted grass in our backyard so hopefully in a week, we will see some green. I will post pictures then. In case you are wondering...we have lived in our house 3 years and the back yard has never been landscaped, but that is pretty much one of the last things on our list!
Other than that, I have one more month of maternity...boohoo, no more maternity pay! I will be going back to work on July 3rd just for tuesdays and every second fridays...we'll see how that goes. My mom will look after Oliver on tuesdays and Dave on the Fridays.
Whew...that's it for now!

So Oliver and I flew out to Calgary to visit his cousins last week. We left sunny Abbotsford and arrived in snowy Calgary. It only lasted a few days and then the sun came out and melted it all. Oliver had lots of fun with all the new toys! I got so many good pictures...it was hard to choose which ones to include.