5 Months!

Our baby is 5 months old today! One year ago I was just wrapping my mind around the idea that we were going to have a 5th baby. My how time flies! These five months with Caitlyn have been so great! She is the best surprise ever. God really knows what He's doing, despite my constant need to step in and try to do it my way! Enjoy some pictures of our happy, sweet, lovely 5 month old...

Coming together...

Here are some updated photos of the basement. We are getting down to the little details.


The two bedrooms are almost completely finished. We have to paint the trim one more time and I have requested that we wait for closet organizing systems to go in before kids go in but other than that, they are "move in ready".

Shower has been tiled but has not been grouted (actually it has, but I have not taken that picture yet...so here it is before grout!)

Here is the awesome cabinet that Okanagan Classic Cabinets made (My father in law and brother in law's business). It has 6 soft close drawers and a large cabinet under the sink. Lots of room for 3 girls and all their stuff.

The beautiful grey granite counter top. I love it, it's pretty, it's classy, it's durable, it's easy to clean!!

Oh- and yes, the walls are a purple color. It's called Sonoma :)

I can't wait for the girls to move downstairs mostly because I am READY for Caitlyn to move out of our room! I'm not getting much sleep these days.

Quick Visit With Court

We miss her already!

All Grown Up and Always Away...

I miss my Maddie around the house! She is my mini me, she likes to cook and do projects, she wants to help me with everything and she loves to love that baby of ours. I miss her while she is gone at school everyday!!!

Legwarmers and Tutus

Cait got the cute rock and roll onesie in the mail from her best friend Sophie (thanks Gretch!). We paired it with her fun neon pink tutu and added her cute legwarmers. Oh my! She is such a dolly! I love to dress her up and the girls love to play dress up with her too!

I am such a fan of these legwarmers.

I bought this pair at Target in California and I am wishing I had gotten more!

They are great for keeping her legs toasty when she is hanging out in a onesie, they are adorable with a little skirt and I am thinking they will feel good when she learns to crawl on our hardwood floor!

"So happy to be in my tutu"

Look at our girl's strong back and neck!

She is "scooting" now...but so far she has only mastered the backwards scoot!


Tiny twinkle toes next to big sister Mailee's big girl toes.

Getting Ready For Big Changes

The kids are getting really excited about the room changes that will be happening soon. This will effect everyone. Mikayla gets her own room, Mailee and Maddie will share and get bunk beds, Caleb gets his own room and Caitlyn will be out of our room! YAY!

The basement is not quite ready but we are preparing...


I found this fun work bench at the consignment store for Caleb. Soon we will be moving the big pink dollhouse out of his room and this will go in it's place! I am loving the consignment store, Living Green Kid Co...I find the best stuff there! Second hand is so great!

Maddie organized all the tools for Caleb before he could play with it. Such a girl.

My little guy! He is hammering and drilling everything around the house now!

Okay, so here are my girls posing for one last picture in the room that they share...

...and here they are showing how they really feel about the new room arrangements! Mikayla is thrilled to have her own space and Mailee is excited to be with Maddie who is a little less concerned about things being "her way".

Basement Today

Here are photos of the girls' rooms. The bathroom is being tiled so those pics will have to wait!!

Mikayla chose these colors. I love them. it turned out great!! Her chandelier is her favorite part of her room. Thanks to Grandpa Don for spending HOURS our at our place helping out with things like hooking up lights!!

Mailee and Maddie chose fun bright colors. It's so cute! They have big plans for the "theme" in their room:) We were going to paint stripes on the walls in a darker shade of green but we are ready to be finished with this basement reno so we are opting for leaving it like it is!!

Missing Cait

The girls miss Cait when they are at school all day! As soon as they see her in the hallways at school they run up and want her out of my arms. She gets loved and kissed the rest of the night!!

First Full Day

The outside shoes are in the cubby...

The inside shoes are on the feet...


The class stuffie has been chosen (it's "the giraffe class") ...

friends are here...

The teacher is nice, the kids are fun and the classroom is super cool...

"It's finally MY TURN!!!"

Never Too Young...

Mailee decided it was about time for Cait to start listening to some tunes....

"Woah! What's this?"

"not too sure..."

"I can kick my feet to this"



"yay! music is fun!"

Kindy Ready

Look at Maddie! She is so thrilled with Kindergarten.
She has so much to tell me about her days! She is loving it.

Maddie's Big Day

Today Maddie started Kindergarten! She has been waiting for this day for a long time.

There she is. What a big girl. She wanted me to take a sideways photo so her backpack would show. We went to Mike's office after school and she wore her backpack in. She was super proud of her big girl backpack!

Aw! There's my tiny girl looking so grown up! Seems like not too long ago that she was accompanying my to Mikayla's first day of Kindergarten as a little toddler.

The money shot. The kids hate doing this photo in front of the flagpole, they are always worried what their friends might think. HA! I'm not worried:)




Maddie, Madison and Doreen.



Sweet girl on the carpet square. I just know what this means.

Once they start school the years fly by and they get so big so fast!

Ladybug Party

Yesterday I had the pleasure of putting on a party with 3 other friends ....

This is Miah. She was adopted from China by our friends Kim and Drew. Isn't she a cutie?

HERE is her story.

Ladybugs are a sign of good luck in China so we went with the ladybug theme for this shower.

There we are, the party planners, our sweet friend Kim (l-r Gabriele, me, Kim, Cheryl & Amy), and her "little lady" Miah.

There are a lot of photos of the details over HERE at the Fig & Ruby blog! Go check it out!

GG's Chandalier

I went into Cranberry Junction yesterday (and fell in love with most everything in the store) and noticed this fantastic chandelier. Upon closer inspection, I knew this chandelier! About a year ago I brought my Grandma's chandelier in and sold it to the owner. I had grand plans of refurbishing it myself but no confidence to back it up so I let it go. She paid me 50 bucks and that was that. When I saw the "new" made-over chandelier in all her glory yesterday, I wanted to buy it back!! I asked the owner and she said it was "vintage" and not for sale and that she really likes it! I am satisfied to see it ever day in the window of the store as we drive by after school. Oh, and I took some pictures, isn't she pretty?