34 weeks ... 6 more to go!

My assistant and I set up for another mini-photo shoot this morning. I'm 34 weeks along with only 6 weeks (give or take a few days!) to go and figured it was time to document another prego-photo. What shoot would be complete without a photo of the photographer AND her lovely assistant!??

Out with the old - in with the new! NOT.

Aiden received a little grey elephant from some friends of ours when he was first born. Both our kids (but mostly Atalie) have TONS of stuffed animals to play with, yet this became Aiden's beloved choice. He totes it around everywhere he goes, fascinated with the feeling of poking its tail or nose inside his own ear or nose. Needless to say, it gets many baths in the washing machine and has become more of a raggedy rat than a soft cuddly elephant over the past 2.5 years. As one lady in Superstore said, "It looks like a well-loved little elephant". Yes indeed. Kevin and I have been talking about trying to replace it with another, as it's a "Shining Stars" animal, easy to find in any toy store. We weren't sure if Aiden would want a new one or even accept a new one, but we decided to give it a try. Afterall, it only cost $6.99 to try. We felt bad about the possibility of taking the old one away and forcing him to love the new one just as much, so we decided to let him try the new one out and see if he'd take to it. Our chosen method was to quickly snatch the old one and put the new one down in its place while he was busy playing, as though nothing had happened. Of course Aiden is smarter than that! He immediately picked it up, softly said "nooooo", as though to tell us "this isn't the same elephant guys" and then came to me to reach behind my back for the old one. When he saw both elephants side by side he got a huuuge grin on his face, as though his little world had just gotten a whole lot bigger!! He held them both up by the tails inspecting their similarities, then sat down to hold them up by their foot and make sure they both had a star on the bottom of their back left foot, then said acceptingly announced, "TWO!" with a big toothy Aiden smile. Since then, he's carted around TWO elephants instead of one. That's TWO elephants to wash, TWO elephants to find for nap/bed time, TWO elephants to shake the dust off when getting into the vehicle, TWO elephants to keep track of in the grocery store and TWO elephants to care for... of course, I'm sure Aiden will do all the caring. We'll do all the rest;) Here we have Aiden answering my question, "Aiden which elephant do you like the most?" (holding up the old one)

Easter in Seattle

We made a second drive out to the West coast this past weekend... possibly against our better judgment, as we were sick, the weather turned wintery and our pockets were slightly short of what we'd hoped they would be... but the trip carried on! Needless to say, we're greatful we did. The kids don't mind driving long distances apparently and we didn't have any meltdowns in the vehicle over either 10hr driving period! I think they quite enjoy just sitting there, looking out the window with their stuffed animals. I put a few movies on for them but they didn't ever ask to watch one and seemed fine when we turned it off again afterwards. So glad! Here are some snapshots of our time at Mom and Dad's place: Atalie, opening her birthday gift from Nana and Papa (games!). Aiden, opening a gift as well so he doesn't feel left out;) A new Easter dress! :) Birthday cake for Daddy and Attie. A little extra help to blow those candles out;) Someone from the community donated this playground to the church (conveniently in Mom and Dads backyard, right beside the church building). We managed to sneak out twice while it wasn't raining... although it still felt quite cold with the wind and damp chilly air (and having colds). The kids didn't seem to mind of course! Atalie looks about the right size for this slide... ...Kevin however... =) About to collect some Eastery Eggs! Sunday morning was the only time we saw sunshine and the wind ceased to blow! Woohoo:) "Here you go buddy!" "Choca!" (chocolate!)

Atalie's Pony Birthday Party

The party shall go on... inspite of spending the "big day" on the road and rescheduling it from Saturday to Sunday;) Atalie had a few friends over to celebrate her 4th Birthday yesterday afternoon. She chose a "Pony" theme and seemed to soak up every little bit! When I asked her what her favourite part of the day was, she said "THE PARTY!!!" (haha - obviously)... so I instead asked her what her favourite part of the party was and she replied, "uh.... the singing (of "Happy Birthday")!" There you have it. Here are some pics of the day: Playing playdough with her friend Slone. "Tape" the tail on the donkey ...games have seemingly become more child friendly these days - I distinctly remember using a tac! "Pull the string" on the pinata ...again, what ever happened to a good ol' fashioned hitting match with a stick or a bat?? The pinatas these days are made out of cardboard on the inside and are pretty much impossible to break if you're a kid. Blowing out her candles... ..mmmm cake!!!! :) Opening presents!! And of course... playing with presents (the fishing game was from Kev and I - she has been game-crazy since Christmas when we let her "help" us play a few). Playing with the decorations sometimes seems as fun as the presents themselves;) Playing with the new ponies!! What could make a better day?!

A bittersweet occasion

My Grandpa Lepp (my Mom's Dad) passed away unexpectedly on March 18th, at the age of 89. The funeral was held in Abbotsford, BC. one week later, so we quickly made plans to drive out there. We prayed for a good drive - meaning it would be peaceful, mostly uneventful and not hectic. It was exactly that! The kids only watched 2-3 movies in their 9.5 hours of sitting in the van and quietly watched the mountains pass by the rest of the time. We also had a great time with my extended familiy once we got there... just too bad it was so short and on such an occcasion. My Grandpa (Jacob Lepp) had been suffering with dimensia and in a home for 4 years so it was bittersweet to say goodbye yet celebrate his new life (mind) in heaven with his Father and first wife, who passed away from cancer about 23 years ago. We will all miss him and continue to pray for my Grandma (his second wife) who still lives in Abbotsford, close to her own family. I realize burial pictures aren't the happiest, but I couldn't help but thinking what a beautiful day it was that morning and what a blessing it was to have a gentle rain to wash away the sorrow of all those who mourned, in preparation to celebrate life together afterwards! So... here's a few anyways: Below is a photo of our combined family - Grandpa's half on the left and Grandma's half on the right. The photo below is of the Lepp family (minus Atalie and Aiden, who were happily playing elsewhere during the funeral). Below, Kev and I (7mo along). Tyler and Jana. Aiden playing with Mike, Michelle and Janelle (cousins). Atalie snuggling with her Great Grandma. Atalie's 4th Birthday was on Friday, March 26th... which was unfortunately spent driving for a full day. So we brought one of her birthday gifts along with us for her to open (a Rescue Pet puppy which she has named "Pornsey"...ya... anyways!) and a couple decorations for her to wear so she felt special on her very un-birthday Birthday;) She even had to wear it into the restroom on a stop we made along the way... lol! The birthday festivities must have tired her out;)

A little morning hike.

So today was the 2nd and final day of our visit with Jeff and the kids :( however we had a great little hike out to our nearby, somewhat frozen, waterfalls. It was a bit of a disapointment, as we thought perhaps by now the water would be flowing somewhat, until we noticed something cool in the snow alongside the river... can you guess what it is in this pic below? (sorry, these were again taken with our crappy point & shoot which we thought was broken but has somehow revived itself - hauling my good camera seems a bit daunting on quick trips like this but I really should anyways as I always regret when I don't!) Top tracks look big enough to be grizzly tracks (not extremely fresh though) and the smaller tracks possibly belong to a deer, which appeared to have been feasted on in other areas by the river; bottom tracks look like cougar tracks, as they were larger than a dogs but didn't have claw marks so likely didn't belong to a wolf. Cougars are quite common in our area but we were a bit surprised to see the griz tracks b/c this is SO close to town (10 minute drive from Canal Flats and 5-10 minute hike in). Wintery Falls... still just as beautiful! Hangin out, only daring enough to enjoy the view from up here once we spotted something else... In the centre of the photo, slightly towards the bottom half, you'll see a black hole behind the falls (well, where water would normally be flowing). It's cleared out perfectly, as to look somewhat like a den. Just above the falls was a deer carcas. Just below the falls, closer to the tracks we saw, there were more remains of the deer. We're wondering if a large pussycat has taken residence in this little black hole... ??? We didn't stick around to find out! A quick pose with the cousins:) Heading back up to the vehicle now... I'm thankful to have Atalie beside me so I don't appear to be the only slow one this time;)