Morocco in Pictures

This vacation to Morocco was such a fantastic time! We needed the break from the challenges that living in Chad holds....and especially as it was in the height of the terrorist attacks...we had been in country for around 10 months and just needed a break from it all.
We flew with Air Moroc for the first time and were pleasantly surprised....we made it in one piece, and eventually got all our luggage :) A good start to our time away....

Finally, finally, I am getting around to sorting through our pictures we took of our time in Morocco....it was so hard to pick which ones to include as there were so many fun, beautiful and memorable moments to choose from. Well, I tried to narrow it down...but there are I think around 65....so....if you want to grab a cup of tea or some sort of drink/snack, now's the time as this'll take a while. :) Enjoy!

This is the departure lounge at N'Djamena airport....luxurious eh? :)

Our own 'in flight' movie (no TV's on this plane!)

Um....are we in the Prairies?? Loving the long, clean, wide open spaces.

We're here!!! Beach time was our first 'to do'.

Evelinne Rose turns 1

In the blink of an eye, Evie is 1. I don't know if I have even gotten used to the idea that we have a baby again in the family! :) Wow....that first year just flew by. What a joy it has been to have another little girl, to welcome a new little life, and to experience all the 'firsts' again.....smiling, sitting up, crawling, walking, eating new foods, learning how to wave hello and goodbye, and seeing her adorable personality start to show....Evie is a gift.
Kaitlyn and Lily adore her, and Phil and I love her a ton....she brings lots of giggles and smiles to our family.
Evie has been a fairly easy baby....she has always slept well, fed well, and is content most of the time....she really only fusses if she is sleepy, hungry or wanting to go outside and can't!
Even though at the age of 1, Evie is just beginning to show who she is, it has been fun to see. Here are some of the things that we want to remember about her:

Taking a break from exploring

- Evie's two big front teeth are A-dorable! She loves to grin with her top and bottom teeth together...so cute.

- When Evie finds a bucket/bowl/cup....she pretends to stir with a spoon or fork or whatever she can find that will do the job. She does the same thing when she eats her yogurt by herself....what a smart girl!

- Evie has her cupboard....she knows how to open it, and then proceeds to empty if out completely, all over the kitchen floor....literally throwing things behind her and reaching for the next....hence....the plastic dishes! Lately, Evie prefers to take a plate or bowl in 1 hand and a utensil in the other hand and walk around the house....so we find plastic dishes and cutlery scattered throughout the house at the end of the day.

Daddy's girl

- Evie loves to be wherever the girls are playing and most times the girls love her with them....but every so often I hear screams of "E-VIEEEEEEE" when she has entered their room and started dismantling their playmobil set up or whatever else they are playing in their room. We are in the process of teaching Kaitlyn and Lily to distract Evie with a toy, or to gently take her out of their room, give her a toy to play with, and then close the door if they really don't want anything to be disturbed. The girls are pretty good about doing that.....but it's still a work in progress. Can't wait for the day til Evie can play right alongside of Kaitlyn and Lily without destroying everything! :)

Peek-a-boo....and a great artsy shot by Phil!

- Evie can wave Hi and Goodbye, and she gives open-mouthed kisses (slobbery but we don't care....it is so precious!)

-She knows how to sign 'all done', 'bath' and 'kitty' but we are working on getting her to sign consistently.....once she gets that one, we will introduce more signs. Sooo adorable to watch her communicate and be so pleased with herself!

- Evie understands the words 'food, sleep, water, outside, birdie, daddy, mommy, Kaitlyn, Lily, hi, bye, help, hot, no, don't touch, dirty'.....and maybe more? Hard to tell at this age just how much she understands but for those words, we have seen her respond appropriately, so we assume she knows what they mean.

- Evie took her first long walk (20 steps) while we were in Morocco and has now left crawling behind,  preferring to walk everywhere! We welcomed this accomplishment as it meant getting her up off of the 'hard to keep clean' sandy floors in our house.

Soooo wanting to touch the candle....

- When the girls dig holes in the sand, Evie always crawls over and backs up towards them with her leg out, trying to fit into the hole....haha.

- Evie eats alot! She loves eggs (hard boiled or scrambled), toast, any fruit, and she usually eats what we eat.....

- Evie LOVES cats, and always wants to pet them and kiss them, much to her annoyance, they never let her! :)

- When Evie is falling asleep, she loves to feel the tag on her blankie (whatever muslin blanket we have for that day....she isn't attached to one specific one), and when she's sleepy, she likes to suck on the tag. Just her little thing she does before bed.

Big smiles after tasting her cupcake....love those teeth!

- Putting Evie to sleep is the ONLY time that girl stays still! I cherish those snuggly moments.

- Evie loves to swing (it's in her genes!)

-Evie loves being outside and has figured out how to open the front screen door!! The handle is low enough for her to reach....trouble!

-Evie LOVES her daddy and when he gets home from work I say....'lets go see daddy' she gets all excited and points to outside and reaches for him with big smiles and hugs.

Those are just some of the cute and memorable things about Evie. We love that she is part of our family and can't wait to see what adventures this next year holds for her.

I love this girl!

Lilykins Turns 6

Lilykins

I know it is such a cliche thing to say but....I still can't believe Lily is already 6! Wow! When we arrived in Chad, she was a cute, little, round baby-faced girl.....and now when I look at her she isn't that baby girl any more. Lily is tall, with skinny minny arms (I always joke that I could snap her like a twig!) and legs that fly around faster than any other 6 year old I know. She has seen so much and lived so differently than most 6 year olds....but she is thriving here in Chad and that makes this mama's heart glow. Lily is super independent (has been since birth I think) and is very sure of herself and completely content to be alone....but also loves playing with her friends. God has blessed her with a 4 year old boy named Nathan who thinks along the same lines as Lily in his creative play and those two can be off for hours, playing Tigers or baby horsey or making mud pies. We are thankful for that friendship. She also loves playing with Kaitlyn....anything from house, to barbies, to playmobil, to whatever their imaginations can come up with and we are thankful for their friendship too. So, it is on this day that we celebrate and give thanks to God for giving us sweet Lily.....and our prayer for her is that she would grow in Godly wisdom, and that she would love Him and serve Him with her whole heart for the rest of her life. Ultimately, nothing else matters and everything else will fall into place. Can't wait to see what He has in store for her....
As per tradition, here are some things that I don't want to forget about Lily at this age....

Classic candy on the spoon game

-You are a creature of habit and each night you plant 6 kisses on our faces in various spots and as per your schedule, we snuggle with you every other night and end that time with tickling on your back first, your face next and your neck last. You love routine! And to be honest, we love snuggle time too....where we chat about the good and not so good parts of the day, pray about those, and then chat about whatever else is on your mind.....so special.
-Recently you have been waking up, getting totally gussied up (ie: fancy dress, shoes, hair done, jewellery on) before breakfast (which is around 6:30am on a school day!)...but the thing is that we aren't allowed to see you before you are totally ready....or a meltdown will ensue---I guess you like the element of surprise! Phil said he was the same way as a kid....Hmm.....his genes....not mine! :)

-You still love to swing in the baby swing (now you have to cross your legs underneath you or your feet will hit the fence behind the swing set) and you often say while swinging: 'Soooo, what do you want to talk about?".

The compound kids/party crew

-Your favorite thing to bake is banana muffins with a cinnamon sugar topping and your favorite thing to cook is scrambled eggs because you can do it yourself.....from the egg cracking to the spatula stirring, you have it down pat!
-You love homeschool and your favorite part is science (you recently grew a bean plant from a kidney bean and some wet paper towel which amazed you!), and you really like the poem book too.
-You love to color.....and will actually finish coloring books from start to finish! I always colored random pictures and often some would be half done etc....nope...not you....every page complete, in order too!

Mmmm....Jasmine cake!

-You love to make Evie (and everyone else) laugh.....and she does! Evie laughed her first belly laugh when you were doing something funny.
-You are an animal lover Lily, and you are always asking me for a glass jar to put whatever you just caught into it....today was a moth, the other day was a dead chameleon.....yuck....but you just love animals....including our cats Whiskers and Ginger.....and you have said more than once that you want to be an animal Doctor....so....we'll just have to wait and see. (you also said you want to be a person who helps people ride bikes....I guess you can have 2 jobs at once)
-When we returned to Chad with Evie, you had to have your own baby (doll) to change, feed, carry around....I remember videoing you one day changing your baby's diaper....it seriously took 5 minutes....you were very thorough and I have no doubt that one day, when you have a real baby....you will know exactly how to change his/her diaper!
-You learned to ride your 2 wheeler bike after trying 4 different times! You are amazing!!! No scraped knees or major accidents....you just peddled and wobbled and kept on going with your bike helmet sitting crooked on your little head and a big grin on your face. I think those are some of the most special moments....seeing you accomplish something and feel on top of the world!

Another Philip Henderson masterpiece....Princess Jasmine Cake!

-You are an 'expectations girl'....just like me...and lately hearing the word 'no' has sent you into a tizzy....I know that goes hand in hand with wanting to be independent, and I pray that God will use your fierce independence for good one day.....but for now....we are working on obeying with a "Yes mom!" and a joyful heart to go along with that. Some days are great, others are challenging.....but we are working on it together.....often times I need a reminder to have a joyful heart too!
-You LOVE jumping on the trampoline with Daddy....the poor guy barely gets in the door from an exhausting long day of flying before you yell "DADDY....do you want to jump on the trampoline with me???".....most often he'll drop his bags and jump for a while....during which time he'll make up fun games that you want to play over and over again
-You are a book lover Lily, and will get a stack of books, park yourself on the couch and say "Mom, can you read me some books?".....it has been a challenge with Evie as all she wants to do is eat the books (!) but we do our best to distract her so we can read some of your selection for that day. You have a book chart that records all the books we've read each day.....just for the fun of looking back on it and seeing just how much we've read!

The 'spread'

-You love oreo cookies and so for your birthday we made oreo ice cream, complete with an oreo on top...you had no idea the two could be combined like that!!
-Your favorite meal is chicken pot pie, your favorite veggie is green beans and mashed potatoes and you think it is the most special treat in the world to have your own glass bottle of coke (rare treat!)
-You keep a plethora of things at the end of your bed....coloring supplies, stuffies, flashlight, barbies....so you'll have a variety of things to do during 'flashlight time'---the 10 minutes before bed where the lights are out but you can do a quiet activity to unwind

Kaitlyn about to sample the goods

This year holds a huge change again for you Lily....you will be going to school (not at home!)....and I know you have been struggling with this idea for a while now....even today when we were snuggling, you were telling me some of your worries and fears about going to school.....things like being teased, not knowing an answer, maybe not wanting to sing during music somedays.....I love when you open up your heart to me and we can talk about it and then pray about it.....giving it all to God for him to replace our fears and worries with His peace....I'm sure we'll have many more chats like that one before school begins for you, but hopefully over that time, you will feel less and less worried and more and more excited to start this new adventure called GRADE 1!!!

Well Lilykins, another letter added to the precious years of birthday letters from me to you.....one day you are going to read these and laugh, cry, wonder, understand, remember and cherish all these memories that we have of you. You are loved Lily.

Love,

Mama

32 and counting....

Happy 32nd Birthday Phil!

I have known Phil for 14 years now, been kissin' him for 12 :)

Phil & I at a cafe in Meaford, on his birthday getaway!

No airplane cake mold available, a race car is the next best thing?

Kaitlyn turns 3

Wow. how can 3 years go by so fast and yet some times seem so slow? She is such a little girl now....definitely not my 'baby' anymore. Her new thing to say is.....I don't need any help....I'm 3! and she holds up three of her fingers just in case i need some visual help :) so hilarious.
I love watching Kaitlyn interact with Lily, when she 'mothers' her in a gentle way or when she crouches down to Lily's eye level and talks in a high pitched voice and puts a soft hand on Lily's shoulder....it melts my heart. so loving and adorable.

Kaitlyn making her birthday pizza!

Oh Kaitlyn, you are so sweet. so full of life. you love to sing....about everything....inevitably whatever is happening will soon be narrated by a song that you are making up in that moment. You love me. and i love you. we love eachother even when we have our moments of selfishness (many of those) and impatience......we say sorry to each other and give hugs and start fresh in that moment. You love your daddy....and your sister Lily too.

Phil's artistic skills....