Man, time flies...

Can't believe it has been over a month between posts...

April had us traveling a bit down to Edmonton and Calgary. We broke down and bought dvd players for the girls for the trip...definitely a sanity saver!

Katie is a snack monster and needs to be snacking from the time we pull out of the driveway until we arrive. Julia travels well during the day but made it VERY clear to us when we traveled to Edmonton to participate in the End the Wait Adoption Seminar, that driving near bed time is a no no. We ended up having to stay in Whitecourt at a hotel overnight as she protested over being in the car thinking she was supposed to sleep there.

In the hotel we quickly discovered that so many things are at Katie level. She was delighted!!!! In the first 20 minutes there she had raided the mini fridge, called front desk, turned on the air conditioner, and started empty microwaves, oh and set the snooze alarm off several times.

The room had 2 queen beds in it. Cara and Julia took one bed, and Katie and I the other. Next time I will just take my pillow and sleep in the bath tub...my precious little girl loves to snuggle which is wonderful when I don't want to sleep, but I can't sleep when someone is "in my sleep space". Once she fell asleep I moved her over, only to have her shift around to sleep vertically on the bed with feet kicking, jabbing and embedding themselves into my back all night. UGH!

The conference was excellent and I feel blessed to have played a part in it.

We did an extended family visit at the end of the month as my grandmother,dad and cousin, as well as a precious friend( who has prayed faithfully for Julia for 5 years), had not met her yet.

Julia is delightful, coming out of her shell even more and has a smile the lights up the room, melts daddy's heart. She turned one this month, I am in denial. I just can't wrap my brain around it, yet she is fully embracing it. She is so close to walking. She is cruising along the couches and walls, using the high chair as a walker. Vocally she has found crying works wonders to get mom and dad running to see if big sister has wronged her, or to see if she has tumbled from being too adventurous, or to simply communicate, "I don't see you, come back into my view!". Her most used sound(aside from the cry) is a word that sounds kind of like "up" and"fpt" combined. We are getting some dadda maa maa sounds but not connecting them to us. Her eyes tell us she know us, they light up, she will do the one raised eyebrow or bashful smile/turn to the side with a glance thing that is adorable. She LOVES being upside down and spun around, she is going to be the carnival ride queen in our group...

We are eager to embrace spring and summer this year, we plan to plant some veges among our large and often weed embraced flower garden to help reduce the work and weed quota.I am looking forward to biking to work, need the exercise. Had a few too many slurpees and 5 cent candies over the winter, combined with too little exercise and it is starting to show...

Summer plans seem to be full with me (wanting to)get Fall work prep done early, taking a week to speak at Ness Lake Bible Camp, and sticking close to church as half the staff are taking off to Rwanda on a missions trip.

Still staying busy(it is reasonable now-crazy bust start of the year)with magic shows, and Cara is delighting in trying out digital scrapbooking. We still long for some more sleep and energy, but being parents to our 2 gifts is such a privilege, even when they refuse to eat, sleep or obey as much as we would like, they bring so many more smiles, joys and delight to our hearts!!!