Our tomgirl!

We finally got Katie to love being outdoors and dirty!!!! Despite our best efforts our lovely daughter is a very girly girl, who likes barbies, dresses and pink. She hates to get her hands dirty and would usually rather be inside doing crafts or playing dolls than be outside - especially now that it is muddy out.

But.... the other day Daddy bought her a kids quad. Well, she loves it and has been out quading everyday since even in the mud! On Easter weekend we went down to Penticton and then up the hill to visit our camping friends - one of them had a kids quad and Katie got to ride it and mentioned several times how much she liked it.

Quading is a fairly big summer activity up here and as we live right accross from a big field and hill it will be great for her to be able to go out too. We have the one adult quad but cant afford a second right now so this also solves the dilemna of how to fit three of us on one quad and since he got a smokin deal it didnt put us out of pocket.

Rob spent the first few times out teaching her driving rules and safety and she picked up pretty quick - yesterday we went for a drive out to Inga lake (north west of town) and she did great all on her own with very few reminders from us. Jersey chased her up and down the road while we cheered and took pictures.

The little quad had speed control so she cant go very fast right now, and a remote kill switch so we can shut her off if we need to.

It is still pretty muddy and since there is still the remanents of our huge snow pack left it will likely be that way for a while - but our little girly girl has taken to heading for the biggest puddles and pinning it to make a big spray of mud! We are so proud!lol

Photo Shoot of Katie

I had been wanting to have some proffessional pictures taken of Katie for years but it was always one of those things on my list that I never got organized enough to do. I used to babysit for Stu Bish (a renoun okanagan photographer) and I always remember the stunning family pictures they had up all over the house and knew I wanted to have some of my family when I was older. So here I am, older, and figured I had better get on it before Katie was 20. Since David Szabo who did our wedding photos is very busy and booked up, not to mention costly, I decided to try to at least get some amature ones done for now. Ross has a friend he had been telling me about who wants to be a proffessional photographer and who Ross has helped on a few photo shoots, so we called and he was thrilled to do a session with Katie. Chris and Ross picked Katie and I up on Thursday before we left Penticton and we all drove down to OK falls to a few spots Chris had checked out for pictures. Well, let me just say I was pleasantly surprised... he is the most proffessional 18yr old I have ever met. He bought Katie some flowers to hold (which she was just tickled about and had to bring home to dry and save) and then with Ross' help took over 200 shots of her. He did alot with her looking away which is what I wanted and asked a few times if I had any special requests. He came up with almost all the poses and settings on his own and the scenery was amazing. Then he went home and spent 2 hours on his computer program editing and selecting the best shots for me. He gave me a cd with color and B&W of the best shots. They are amazing. He was so enthusiastic - it was great, thanked us and said over and over how much fun he was having. So enough bragging about this kid - here is some of his work.
Oh and his website is www.chrisschoenne.com

Abbotsford

Heres some pictures from the Vancouver part of our trip. Katie and Emilie are 6 months apart and even though we only see them 4 - 5 times a year the two always play unbelievably well together. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and went to Castle fun park for Emilies 6th birthday party - its kinda like scandia in Kelowna - the kids played on the rides, did some bowling and air hockey. Its funny to see Katie in an arcade though - she doesnt like video games and really hasnt had much exposure to them so while the other kids were running around playing Katie was looking very lost and not at all impressed - "mommy I'm bored....theres nothing to do" she says in the middle of 1500 sq feet of arcade type games with at least 100 other kids from 5 - 12 yrs old. She did finally settle on air hockey and had a blast playing with one of the other girls.

On monday we went to Mill lake park and the girls played on the playground while Jacquie and I walked with the baby in the stoller. Its a cool park - there is a walking path all the way around the playground so moms can excersize while kids play. On Tuesday night Dwight offered to keep Emilie, Katie and baby Jack home with him while Jacquie and I went for coffee! It was great, we got to sit, sip coffee and yak like old times. They introduced a bottle right away for Jack so he takes it happily and Jacquie has alot more freedom - because she can leave and know that he can still be fed if he gets hungry. He is such an amazing baby - content like I have never seen, in three days I heard him cry once and it was only really a loud grunt. He is sleeping fairly well, 4 - 5 hours at night and naps lots too, although he likes to eat every 2 - 3 hours during the day. Its been great for Jacquie to be home with the kids and I know she's thinking of alternatives to returning to full time work once her Mat leave is up. Thanks for having us Jacquie, we had a great time.

Its been a while!

I realized today I havent blogged in over a month so I figured I should put at least a short one on! Katie and I were gone for two weeks in March and had a wonderful time visiting all our friends and family. We left on the 10th and flew to Vancouver where we spent one day with my brother Doug - unfortunately Geoff was away at a soccer tournament so we missed him but it was great to see one brother at least! Next time we will spend a bit more time there Doug - maybe in the summer and we can go back to the aquarium and stanley park like last year. We then went out to Abbotsford and spent 3 days with Jacquie and her family - Katie and Emilie had a great time playing as usual and Jacquie and I got some awesome girl chats! Thanks Dwight for watching all three kids so we could go for coffee for two hours on tuesday!!! We then took the bus to Kamloops and stayed with my sister Ashley and her family. Emily was lots of fun and Katie really enjoyed being the big cousin, we were sad to miss the baby as Ashley was induced two days after we left and Kaylee our new neice was born weighing 7lbs, 12oz... in three hours! Congrats Ash and Corey cant wait to meet her, give her lots of kisses from us. We only got to see mom for two days when our visits overlapped in Kamloops - Katie said on the way home "mom - I miss gran, we only saw her for a short time". Hopefully mom will be able to come up here soon to see us again and check out our new home and town. On the bus again to Penticton and we had a whirlwind but terrific time visiting Nana, Aunty Nett, Grandma Funk, great Nana and Papa, Uncle Ross and then all our friends. We got to meet Donna's new dog "Miss Daisy May" - a 4 month old english bulldog... go to Salty's for lunch with Janet, Jaydon and DJ... play with Olivia at the park... have girls night with Janet, Shannon and I... and a great supper with Steve and Sandra.

We had hoped to be able to see more people but it was so busy as it was! We will be down in the summer at least once though so we will catch up with the rest of you then.

Back home things are good - Rob, Jersey and Gracie missed us and were happy to have us all home again. The snow is starting to melt and I actually saw grass in our back yard the other day - the small wonders... lol. Katie had a busy week back at school and of course catching up on play dates with all her buddies, and today we went to Grande Prairie shopping with Sheena, Mason and Makenzie from down the street - it was a blast.

I have so much to say about each part of our visit back home and things up here but that will take a few posts, for now the quick run down will have to do. lol

We still love living up here and despite being a bit sick of winter are very happy. Rob has been busy at work still which is so awesome - he is really enjoying being able to do the trade he loves and is good at but be able to be home with the family too.

We will miss the Poetsch's and wish you luck on your next adventure.

I will actually post some pics of Katie - Ross' friend Chris is an up and coming photographer who did a shoot with Katie for me in Penticton, he did an amazing job and I am so thrilled with the shots. I will put more on and figure out how to link to his site another time, so if anyone is looking for a photographer you can give him a try.