Thursday, June 30, 2011

2 more!??

This sweet girl turned 2 today!
When we told her it was her birthday and asked her how old she was now, she replied, 
"I two more!!" 
Well, not quite honey.  1 + "2 more" would equal 3 but at least you have the 'two' part right ;)

We celebrated with 'Nammy', Auntie Vivie and Elijah with 'high tea' at Appledoorns this afternoon, and then finished off the day with some fun at Nammy's house.  (I'll post pictures tomorrow.)
Uncle Craig & Auntie Jen arrive from Saskatchewan in just 10 short days (woohoo!),
so we'll do the big party once they're here to celebrate with us!

But for now, I'll say... 
Happy Birthday to our sweet Callie-bear! 
We love you more than you could ever imagine.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Lots to report...

Life has been full these past weeks and we're excited to be coming to the end of another era.... our internship will be finished this coming week!!  Its been a really incredible time of learning, being part of an amazing team, being stretched, learning flexibility and all in all, experiencing God's goodness & provision.  But we're also really excited to be finished this chapter and moving on with the next steps for our family.

So... to start off the post, I'll give you a quick recap of life as of late.

Father's Day celebrations were awesome.  We celebrated with my family on Saturday evening.  The festivities started with peeling peas for dinner...  although I'm pretty sure Callie ate more than she put in the bowl.



Then we moved outside for some fun on the 'champoline' (as Callie calls it)...  

She loves this little guy SO much...

Then the Dad's got started on Grammy's latest purchase... a bouncy castle for Callie & Eli.  

The excitement built with each minute.  
They figured they better work together on moving this one... :)

Let the games begin!

"This tider has SHARP teef!"

On Sunday, we joined the rest of the Esau  clan at Uncle Jake & Auntie Lori's for the annual Father's Day pool party.  This is always our favorite Esau family gathering.  Its always so relaxing and fun to be able to swim in their pool.  I wasn't sure what Callie would think of it, considering it wasn't warm that day.  But Uncle Jake had warmed the pool up to 88 degrees so it was really more like a warm bath :)

Still not too sure...

Turns out, she LOVED it!  
We couldn't get her to come out once she was in.
She honestly would've stayed in all night if we had let her.

Spending some time with my sweet niece, Lily.
Also just a little proof that I did, in fact, attend said gathering :)

Last week was incredibly busy.  We had something up every single evening.  Monday night we celebrated my nephew Konrad's 7th birthday.  Tuesday I had Callie's long-awaited allergist appt. in Vancouver (much to my disappointment, she IS allergic to peanuts and all other nuts.  Epi pen is officially in the diaper bag at all times.  Life changer for sure... but that's a whole 'nother story :)) and then Tuesday evening, we met our dear friends, the Reimers, at Mill Lake for some park time and dessert.  It was a gorgeous day and the splash park was up and running.  I didn't think to take Callie's bathing suit so after some begging, and Corina offering one of their towels, I finally gave in and let Callie run around in her clothes.  You honestly would have thought she had won the lottery!  She squealed and screamed in delight as she splashed in the puddles and ran under the shower heads, fully clothed.  She looked like a drowned rat by the time she was finished but it was so worth it.  I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it.

The only dry clothes we had for her were her pj's so she borrowed some of Chase's clothes.  She looked like a little tom-boy all dressed in army green :)  Here she is, playing catch with "Auntie" Corina...

"I did it!" 

 The Reimers are going to be doing MTE training with MB Mission this fall and will join us in Thailand after that.  We're excited to have another young family joining us there and can't wait to be 'family' with them!

Let's just say that the coloring didn't stay on the paper that was provided... :)
Jesse & Chase

Our newest family members... :)

On Wednesday night, we were invited to the Heywood's for dinner.  Dave & Sarah are new to Chilliwack and Dave will be starting the residency program here next week.  They have 2 sweet girls named Kara & Emily and we had an awesome evening with them.  Thanks again for the yummy food and great conversation guys!  We look forward to getting to know you more over the next few months!

Thursday night was our church's annual "Volunteer Appreciation" dinner.  Seeing as we're still interns at church, we got roped into helping with the decor for the evening's event.  The theme was "tailgate party" and it actually ended up being pretty fun to put together.  We got some truck boxes to put at the front of the gym, complete with lawn chairs & coolers, Jon and I painted a mural of a famous baseball stadium scoreboard and we finished the tables with some cute 'tailgate party' sports items...



Everyone came dressed in their favorite sports team jerseys and we all enjoyed an evening of fun, good food, games & good laughs.  I'd say it was a huge success!

Well... that's all I've got for now.  The sun is shining and we've been invited to the Massie's for a pool party this afternoon so I better go get our suits packed :)  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Update...

A new post is up on our Thailand blog!  Click HERE to read it.  
It'll give you a little update on where our fundraising is at, for those that have been curious. ;)

* If you're interested in getting behind the ministry that is going on in Thailand, click HERE to donate!

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Sports Day...

Callie and I had the pleasure of watching my nephew, Konrad, participate in his school "Sports Day" yesterday.  This picture was taken from behind, but you should've seen the look on her face when she saw all those people & all the excitement.  Just picture saucers for eyes and a jaw that wasn't capable of dropping any further ;)

The classic "water relay..."

Konrad standing with his fellow 'green team' teammates...

Auntie "Omi" (Naomi) and Lily enjoying sports day...

Another crazy relay.  Go Konrad Go!

Walkin' with Gramma...

Another classic... the potato sack race!

YAY team??

I'm pretty sure this was the conversation that took place in this picture:
"Do we wait in line for hot-dogs for the rest of the afternoon or do we head home for lunch?" 
We opted for Auntie "Omi's" house & some good ol' McD's :)

BFF cousins, cheering on Konrad...

Hooray for Sports Day!! 

Monday, June 06, 2011

It must have worked...

I guess my last post did the trick because the sun has finally arrived here in the Lower Mainland and we've had some gorgeous weather!  Woohoo!
I'm pretty sure I only have a few minutes before Callie wakes up from her nap so I'll just post a few of my latest pictures (even though they're over a month old and most of them were taken on my iPod Touch).
I have to say... its sad how few pictures I take these days.  I used to have my camera on me at ALL TIMES when Callie was first born.  Now I am lucky if I remember it at all.  So although the pictures are few & far between, it doesn't mean 'the kid' isn't growing and getting cuter every day :)

Playing a bit of 'dress-up'... 

Out for a walk on one of the few nice days we had in May...

Enjoying the park on a warm, spring evening...

Not so sure about THIS one though... ;)

Lovin' the swing.  As always.

My sweet nephew Eli joined us...

"Dampa" & "Nammy"came too.
I love this picture.  Gosh is she ever going to miss them.

I have some pretty hilarious videos of Callie visiting the donkeys & horses (just down the street from our house) but blogger isn't letting me upload them right now.  Stay tuned for some 'conversations with Callie!' :)