April odds and ends

 Evelyn lost her first tooth last week. She is very excited and proud of this milestone in her life. She had been extremely apprehensive about loosing her teeth, but, once it showed itself as wiggly, we worked to get her used to the idea and prepare her for the event. When it fell out during supper, she was great. The blood was a little scary, but she took it in stride. The tooth next to it is now getting wiggly too.

We spent Easter Weekend in Victoria and enjoyed visiting with Ryan's Dad (Grandpa and Grandma) where the kids blew bubbles and enjoyed the pizza and ice cream. We also visited my mother (Oma) and enjoyed brunch at John's place. 

(The other visits have photos and have their own blog posts)

Ethan and Evelyn made Easter Hand Wreaths as part of our Easter homeschool curriculum. We have been learning about Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and the Ascension of Christ. Evelyn has been soaking it up and remembers a fair bit. I will need to review with Ethan for a while yet....

I arrived home from my last night shift to find Ethan already dressed and in a rather silly mood.

He decided to wear the suit jacket that Casey passed on to him. He looked good and he knew it!

After striking some model and ninja poses, he treated us to a song and dance. (see video below)

Chidlow Easter

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This was Tyson's first Easter and he got to spend it with a whole bunch of his cousins. He is eating solid foods now, has his first couple teeth, and is crawling. He looks pretty handsome in his Easter tie!

 Evelyn and Ethan enjoyed the egg hunt, and love their Lego and Strawberry Shortcake toys.

 Emily and Megan enjoyed their day and spent much time running around and playing hide and seek.













Ashley and Austin enjoyed their toys and candy.

 The hunt is on!

 Auntie Karen helps the girls find a couple final eggs.

A delicious Easter Turkey feast was prepared by Nana. It was wonderful and we were all bursting at the seams.

Parrish Easter Egg Hunt

Beautiful sunny warm Saturday. Perfect for a egg hunt. The kids enjoyed finding their eggs and playing together. The adults enjoyed sitting in the grass and soaking up the rays while visiting together.







Alyssa-Belle had her own hunt earlier then went for her nap, so I missed pictures of her. It was a very nice day. 

The Johnson's had to search high and low for their Easter treat bag. They enlisted the help of Lillian-Ruth to reach up and get it. 

Finally, a nice portrait of Bettina and Lillian-Ruth. 





Christ is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

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My Garden!

 We have a garden! It is full of spring bulb flowers, and I am LOVING it! I have no idea what most of these are called. But they are gorgeous!

Our Garden also has frogs. At least 8 of them. They are tiny, about the size of your thumb, but they are LOUD. Very, very loud. They've been mating lately and we had several of these gelatinous egg pods floating in the ponds. I say HAD because I have removed almost all of them. I left one pod to see how it will do. The Tadpoles will be a good science project for the kids too. I just don't want too many more of these tiny silence breakers. I've started wearing ear plugs every night just so I can sleep!

In other news, I've been sick. I missed 3 days of work, actually I had to leave part way through one shift. Turns out I have strep throat. On the plus side, I feel almost totally better now, and I found us a Family Doctor! So far, no one else at home has gotten sick, and I'm sort of on a light isolation, but I don't wish this illness on anyone, so I will continue to hold back on my kisses and keep hugs etc to a minimum. Ethan has developed a touch of allergies. His eyes puffed up for a couple days, but have been good now for several days, so I think it is only an allergy to one specific tree or plant pollen. We are thankful that it has settled down now.  I don't know what any of the 3 flowers below are called.

A Rhododendron bush with bright red flowers. I don't know what the purple flowers are called.

Several other flowers.

 I am not sure what this small tree is called. It has bark like an arbutus and has small pink flowers on it. I love the shapes of the branches.

Some more flowers. I know the small yellow ones are narcissus. 

 These fine specimens are on the bushes in front of the house. Again, I don't know what they are. I actually didn't expect the bushes to flower. They're wonderful!

 I may have to print some of these photos! They would make great pictures for the wall!

 A few more flowers.

Neck Point Park April 2

We took advantage of a mild Saturday and headed to a beach we had never been to before. Neck Point park is really unique. It feels like around 6 different parks. Each with it's own feel and weather and things to keep you interested and enjoying nature. The highlight was a very windy outcropping that is reached by a small pebble bridge. We enjoyed watching the many seagulls and pretending to fly in the wind.

Ethan practiced throwing rocks into the water, and Evelyn found a driftwood fort. We all played "Don't touch the sand" and balanced on the logs. 

Here is that windy area I mentioned. One side of the 'bridge' was crashing waves, the other was calm water.

It was a great way to spend a couple hours.