Diaper Free Household!!! And other things :)

What is with this weather?! It is almost impossible to believe that two weeks ago it was nearing 30 degrees. It's now pouring rain and 11 degrees... June-uary came early!

The last couple weeks we have been battling more on and off sickness, having lots of home time, and prepping for Emilia's bake sale, we had a date night, and the biggest thing is that WE ARE A DIAPER-FREE HOUSEHOLD!!!

We got Sherlock a new bed at Costco! It's huge... and came with an inner piece which is basically another whole mat. Not sure yet if we're going to keep it. Love that if we decide not to we can just return it! Ahhh. Costco.

Emilia doesn't really care much about hockey, so she got to cuddle her friend during games. She loves him.

Eva did some computer colouring for the first time and she did so great! She's never tried to properly draw anything like people or anything, so it was great to see her creating actual things in a 3-year-old way haha. The image above you can sort of see is a car with a person inside.

Her frog on a lily pad with two flies above it haha! Love it.

I was going to potty train back in April, but then with the health issues and everything I postponed it. I decided we were going to do it on the May long weekend! Eva and I ended up having a cold so it was perfect timing. We were both just home for a few days anyway. 

Long story short, Eva was ready and she did amazing. My biggest surprise is the lack of pushback. I expected lots of fighting and tears, but there was literally none. She just did it. I'd say she's fully pee-trained and we're working on poops still. They're less frequent so there's less practice. We are diaper free! Milestone. She also prefers now to go on the big toilet most of the time, so we're mostly skipping the potty cleaning out phase too. Bless.

Emilia rapidly came down with a fever over 104F on the Friday. No idea what that was about. No other symptoms and was back to normal the next day. Poor girl.

Alas. The Canucks were defeated in game 7 by the Oilers. Out in round 2. 

One bonus is that Dom cannot be defeated in the hockey pool. He absolutely crushed it and I'd say it is not a coincidence. That boy studies hockey stats and players' stats like crazy and made his picks based on that information. 

Dom got ahold of my label maker and sneakily stuck a sticker on the potty. 

"FART" Nice, Dom!

Dad led worship for the first time at the new church! Great to see him up there and to sing some familiar songs. I'm sure I'll be up there eventually too, but I was volunteering with the littles that morning.

Dave and Dom went to stick & puck, so the girls and I went to the park for a bit.

I guess the laundry basket made the potty feel more exciting?

Stomp rockets!

I brought Eva over to play with Phoebe while I watched her for a couple hours one day. The girls had a blast together! Phoebe was talking a lot about how they were moving very soon to their new house :)

Emilia drew her hamster <3

Dom came home with pink eye last Wednesday so he missed Thursday and Friday at school. Luckily we still had the drops from when Eva had it so we didn't have to go to the pharmacy or anything. I gotta say... drops on a 7 year old is about 10,000x easier than a 3 year old!

Here they set up the tent on Emilia's bed and were playing McDonald's :)

Emilia is planning and prepping for her bake sale and we spent lots of the weekend making cookies and treats to sell! We're hoping the weather will be nice on June 15 so we can do the sale then, but we will see!

She is so funny. She's been practicing her "script" and has it written out so she can read it if she forgets what to say when she's talking to strangers. 
"Would you like a cookie or a magnet, or both, or none? By donation!"

Aunty Lasagna came to make cake pops and sugar cookies with us on Sunday

So pretty! And much cooler than whatever I would have made were it up to me haha. I'm Ms. box-cake for birthdays :)

Maybe not the most beautiful cookies of all time, but Emilia is proud of them and that's what matters! Haha

A much too rare Proof of Mom!

The best part.

On Monday we had plans that got cancelled, but Mom told us to just go out and be adults for a while anyway. Date night it is! We had brewery coupons, so did a classic Langley Brewery tour! Farm Country, Five Roads and Trading Post :)

I'm an IPA girl and find it very hard to branch out when I get a flight. I was determined and aimed for 2 max at each brewery. On of my favorite beers we tried actually was I think the Hazy Pale Ale from... Farm Country I believe. Look at that. Not even an IPA! 

Dave is also an IPA guy, so his goal was to try a sour from each brewery. Not our favorite, but not as horrible as we remembered either haha. 

My adventurous one here was a Kolsch which I typically don't love... Can confirm. I did not love.

We played a Beer IQ game at 5 Roads. This question killed me.

Also this... what the heck!

In the Middle Ages, which Christian rite was practiced occasionally using beer?

1. First Communion

2. Funerals

3. Child Baptism (right answer)

*In Europe it was quiet common to baptize children with beer, probably because it was often cleaner than water!*

When we got home, Mom said Dom had fallen asleep on his floor <3 I remember doing this as a kid too! Back when I didn't need a very specific firmness/softness of surface to sleep on without waking up very sore. 

Tuesday was Kindergarten Day, so Emilia didn't have school. The girls and I drove out to Aldergrove to see Phoebe's new house and take a tour of their huge property! 

Watching Phoebe's Opa dig up the yard to replace septic pipes. 

Phoebe identifying all the fruit trees for us

There's a pond on the property and Scott had heard rumors about giant bullfrogs. We found one... Just chilling on the patio! Gross! The family of ducks and ducklings was much cuter.

In the afternoon Emilia had horseback riding. She wasn't really wanting to go this day which is very unlike her. She kept saying she didn't feel up to it, she wasn't ready. It's like she was almost nervous. 
She got paired with French Toast and she was excited because she can actually help tack him because he's smaller and typically pretty gentle. During the lesson though, I wonder if maybe her hesitancy about going to lessons was some sort of sixth sense...

Toast is always a little bit goofy and rebellious. He's little, and has Little Man Syndrome. He thinks he's some sort of wild stallion at times. We're pretty used to his attitude though. 

However, about halfway through the lesson, Toast saw the open door and went for it. Emilia tried with all her strength to redirect him, but he pushed his way through the door and took off into the farm with Emilia on his back. 

The instructor ran out after them so I figured he'd catch them right away. I counted to 10 and they weren't back in yet, so I went downstairs to see what was going on. I looked down the barn past all the stables and see French Toast running past the doorway, followed quickly by Emilia's instructor. Then I hear Emilia crying. Shit! I ran outside to see another instructor carrying her. She'd been thrown off Toast after he took off out the door and started running. He threw her right into a giant mud puddle. Made for a soft, but humiliating landing. 

She was pretty upset, but calmed down much quicker than I would have. Toast gave all the staff a run for their money with his antics and was tough to track down and wrangle. We checked Emilia over to make sure she was okay physically. A small bruise on her foot (we think from him pushing through the doorway), but other than that unharmed. 

We all encouraged her that she did amazing, she's so brave, and that this was not her fault at all. The instructors explained to her that when we fall off a horse, we take a few minutes to recover, and then once we're ready, we have to get back on. Even just to sit in one spot and not to ride. Emilia understood immediately (there's that resilience she's been learning at school). 

After 10 minutes, she was able to giggle about the fact that she was covered in mud and that Toast tried to take her for an adventure, and she climbed back on that horse. She literally got back on the horse. She never ceases to amaze me, this child. How is she only 6 years old? She did not fight it for one second. She understood why she should do it, and she and the instructor agreed to put her on one of her favorite horses next week (possibly Blue if he can be pulled from the other class he's in). 

After the lesson we walked Toast back to his stall like usual and untacked him. She went to his face and said, "Thanks for the adventure." and we gave him a pat and walked on out. She was congratulated by everyone from her class, the other class, the parents, the staff, etc. She didn't honestly understand what the big deal was and why everyone was saying she did so great. I'm like... because you're 6 years old and tiny and sweet and a horse took off out of the barn running with you when you've never ran with a horse and you got thrown off into a mud puddle? And then you got back on the horse??!! 

This is before she got back on the horse. I should have gotten her to turn around for a photo. I think this sweater is garbage now. A roung through the wash hardly made a dent in the mud stains :(

Ben walked with her and Toast just to make sure he didn't pull any funny business, and I got to stand in the barn for the last 20 minutes. I think we'll be back to business as usual next week, but if she's really anxious, I'll ask if I can be in the barn for another lesson. 

This morning Emilia and the other Kindergarten kids led chapel at school! Every class has their own "storyline". Emilia's class's is "Growing in our Gifts." Can confirm, her teacher does an incredible job of living out this storyline and teaching the kids to live it out too. 

The teachers get to come up with their own storyline, so Dom's class is "United in Diversity"; they spent the year learning all about where each kid is from, how different countries celebrate different holidays. How we're all different and alike. 

Their school is so inspiring to me.