Anniversary

I love celebrating our anniversary and am looking forward to celebrating six (yes, six!) years of marriage in June. But, today is our one year anniversary in Canada. I can't believe that one year ago I had Allie sleeping in her swing in our powder room while the movers were moving in all of our furniture. I'm so thankful that is over! :)

One year later life is different, but I truly believe life is better. We no longer have an infant, but a very active toddler! We no longer have extended family living near us, but our little family is closer than ever. We have acclimated to a new country that isn't too different from the US, but it is different nonetheless. I am reminded of the difference every time I pay for gas in liters, try to convert the temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit (I should be much faster at it by now, but I'm not!), or reach into my wallet to pay for an item with Canadian money. It is amazing that after 12 months, these things still do not come naturally to me, which I guess makes me an American through and through.

What I can say for this country, and this city in particular, is that we have been welcomed with open arms. I can barely type this without getting a little teary because I am so thankful for the friends that we have made along the way. They helped to make our move successful. They made our transition easier. And they made us feel welcome. For that, I will be forever thankful.

We don't know how long we will live here, or where we will move next. But I do know that if I found out tomorrow we were moving back to Minneapolis, I would be equal parts happy and equal parts sad. What a blessing that we truly have two places we can call home!

So, on our one year anniversary, I am thankful for this adventure, I am happy with life, and I am excited for our future. God is so good!

One year ago leaving Minnesota for our long car ride to Saskatoon.

Allie helping mommy unpack. I can't believe she was ever so small!

My sick girl today. She is so big!

Easter!

Even though I was pretty homesick, we had a wonderful Easter. We went to church, had friends over for brunch, and had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard. It was a great day! Be prepared, this is a long post.

Allie's Easter basket from the Easter bunny.

The Easter bunny even brought Bella some dog treats!

This is what Allie looked like just before we left for church.

Mommy had to have a little chat with her.

Luckily mommy was able to cheer Allie up.

This section is for my mom so she can see some of my decorations. Skip ahead if you don't care! :)

The eggs were made my extremely talented Aunt Sue.

You have to have fresh flowers on Easter. You just have to.

The table.

The desert. Yum.

One of the families that came over. They moved to Saskatoon this winter after living in Nebraska, but they are originally from Brazil.

And now the best part. The Easter egg hunt!

Brogran, the son of Casey and LeAnn, found lots of eggs! His dad works for Cargill with Dan and they are also Americans.

Allie wanted daddy's help finding eggs. Bella decided to help too.

Allie and daddy!

Allie and mommy!

Each year on Easter I am reminded what amazing grace God showed us by allowing His son to die for our sins. We had a wonderful day of eating too much food, finding Easter eggs in our back yard, and spoiling Allie with her Easter basket. But the real meaning of Easter isn't about these things. It's about a sacrificial gift that was made for undeserving people. For that, I am humbled and truly grateful. Happy Easter everyone!

15 Months!

Our "baby" turned 15 months old on Friday. She is definitely a toddler, but I still call her a baby because she will always be my baby!

At 15 months Allie:

--weighs about 24 pounds, which puts her in about the 60th percentile. They didn't measure her height, but judging by how her clothes fit, I think she is still in about the 50th percentile.

--still mostly cruises around by crawling even though she can walk just fine. She is ON THE GO and crawling for her is still faster, so she can't be bothered to slow down and practice walking. My girl is a mover!

--talks all the time and knows more words that I can even count. Her favorites are; mama, dada, hi, more, uh oh, whoa, and WOW. She must say whoa and wow 20 times a day. I love that her world is filled with such wonder that her best response is whoa and/or wow, always with a big smile and a look towards mama and dada to make sure we are seeing the same amazing things she is. I love how her little mind absorbs everything!

--is miss independent. She wants to try everything by herself which makes me both proud and a little sad at the same time. Time sure is flying.

--finally understands to treat Bella gently. She likes to pet Bella and hug Bella. Unfortunately, there is a good six months of hair pulling that Bella will not easily forget. Now when Allie tries to pet her, Bella typically jumps up and moves so as not to risk a good hair tug.

Happy 15 month birthday sweet Allie!

A couple shots of miss independent. She isn't going to smile when I want her to. She will smile when SHE wants to!

Here she is walking.

Italian Anyone?

This is what it looks like when Allie eats Italian food.

Oh My Goodness...

I love having a girl! Today I was in a tutu and bow kind of mood. What fun! :)

SPRING, SPRING, SPRING!!!!

Can you tell by the title how excited I am that it is finally spring in Canada? This has been the longest winter of my life and I am happy to report that spring has officially sprung in Saskatoon. The first sign of spring was the melting of all the snow in our back yard. Brown grass never looked so good.

Another sign of spring was the appearance of Bella's tongue. She has the world's longest tongue and in warm weather it tends to hang out as she pants. Here she is on our first trip to the neighborhood park.

And, another sign of spring is that Allie no longer needs her full on winter bodysuit (a coat just won't do for a Canadian winter!). The bodysuit has been her constant companion for six months. She can now be outside in just a fleece. Here she is looking around in awe, not believing she is actually outside.

We had a blast at the park and Allie went in a swing by herself for the first time. She wasn't sure at first, but loved it after a few minutes.

And, my little princess still refuses to walk. Yes, she can walk. Yes, she chooses to walk sometimes. But, her usual mode of transportation is STILL crawling. She doesn't care that she gets filthy, she just cares that she can cruise around much more quickly and more confidently than walking. One thing I've learned about Allie is that she's going to walk when she wants to walk and nothing I do will change that. I wonder where her stubbornness comes from? :)