First Snow

We got our first snow of the season today! It was also the most snow we've seen since moving to North Vancouver. While we get plenty of snow within a 15 minute drive up the hill we have never had as much snow as we did today...we've had dustings of snow BUT today we got almost 5 inches of the white stuff. And it was a good wet perfect for snowman making snow! It was also the first time we've (and by that I mean ME) have had to shovel the drive since living in Toronto. FUN!

BOO!

Happy Halloween! Halloween for us was a real TREAT....why? Mother Nature decided to take pity on us and dry the skies just in time for trick or treating! And since October had only 3 days of no rain we enjoyed every minute of our dry Halloween!

This Halloween we celebrated with chocolate chip spider cookies and meringue cookie ghosts. I actually made the meringue ghost cookies for Anna when she was 3 and she still asks for them! The girl loves a meringue!

A Royal Visit

 A couple of weeks ago the royals were in town! Prince William and Princess Kate visited Vancouver and a friend and I decided to brave the crowds and attempt to get a peek at the royal couple. Anna was very excited to see "a real life Princess" (her words!)...though I did explain to her that the princess would not be in a big ball gown and crown! So with our best tiaras on we hopped on the sea bus to downtown Vancouver and got a peek at the royals! And by peek I mean it really was a peek.....crowds and crowds of people....!

Back to School!

It's the first week of school - back to routines, after school activities, and packing lunches!

One Busy Summer

And with the rain this week we have the end of summer. The kids are back in school next week but before we go back to school here are some of our summer highlights...from camping to summer camps to a trip to Scotland...it was one busy and fun summer!

We started summer with a camping with friends at Golden Ears Provincial Park...where it rained and rained and rained. But it didn't rain out the fun we had!

 Our next adventure was a weekend trip with more friends to Whistler where we canoed the river of golden dreams and the girls learned how to fish (but no fish were caught!).

 Then we were off to Scotland to visit family and celebrate Alastair's birthday!

 Sunny beach days in Scotland!

Then it was time to head home and when we got to Edinburgh airport we realized we left our passports in the car. So we got a flight the next day out of Glasgow. And then that flight was cancelled....so we had some good quality tourist fun at the airports!

The final weeks of summer brought sunshine so it was off to the beach!

And it wouldn't be the summer of 2016 without watching the Olympics...every time swimming was on Matilda would yell, "Go Michael Phelps!"

More fun not pictured - our lemonade stand, splashing in the sprinklers, dancing at the Shipyards, going to the movies, splash pad adventures at the park....

Geared for Fun

 We celebrated the start of summer with a new bike for Anna. Her last bike was getting too small and with all the hills here we thought it would be good for her to try a bike with hand brakes and gears. After a quick bike tune up and lesson from Alastair Anna hit the road! First we practice on the streets....next stop - the mountain trails!

Anna meets Mo!

Anna has always loved books and has a love for reading. If you ask her who her favourite author is she will tell you it is Mo Willems. Mo Willems is the amazing author of the pigeon books and the elephant and piggie books. And last night we went to a book signing to meet him! We were very lucky to get tickets (it sold out in a day) and Vancouver is his only Canadian stop. It was an unbelievable experience. Mo Willems read his last book in the elephant and piggie series and read his yet to be published next book! And then he signed all our books! Wow! 

And to give you an idea of how much Anna loves Mo Willems we had the opportunity to go with Alastair to Jasper National Park this week. I asked Anna what she would rather do - go on a road trip adventure and go camping or go meet Mo Willems. Without hesitation or giving any thought she answered definitively, "I want to meet Mo Willems".

 After the book signing we joined some friends at Jericho Beach for a pizza picnic. Meeting Mo and then playing on the beach....as Anna said on the drive home - It was the best day ever!

A Walk in the Woods

One of my favourite things about living in Vancouver is that there is always new hikes to explore. A few weeks ago we went to Port Moody and walked the Admiralty Point trail and it was amazing. The trail followed the shoreline so around every turn and bend we had views of the ocean. Sun + Sea + Forest = My kind of walk!

Family Ride

Shhh...don't tell Alastair (he will tease me endlessly!) but going for bicycle rides has become my new favourite thing. With Anna becoming more confident on her bike and with me starting to relax on the few blocks we ride on a "busy" street with cars, biking has become our new favourite way to go to school. Matilda goes in the bike trailer and off we go!

Soon Anna will be ready for a bike with gears - watch out hills here comes Anna!

One Month

I'm scared to write this. I don't want to jinx things. But it's been one month. For some a month can go by in the blink of an eye - how often do we hear ourselves say how time flies? But for us a month is huge; a huge milestone. Because tonight it will be 5 weeks. It will be roughly one month, 5 weeks, 35 days, 840 hours, 50400 minutes, 3.024e+6 seconds....since Matilda had her last significant seizure. There I said it. It's out in the open and been given to the universe. Some are reading this and are shocked perhaps...I haven't posted anything on this blog about what has been happening with Matilda the last 6 months. But since this is our virtual baby book/family album I realized that I had to post about this. Because it's been 5 weeks and that is huge, it is significant and something worth celebrating. I don't want to forget the first words, steps, or even when Matilda began her journey on becoming (fingers and toes crossed) seizure free. 

It's a very long story but on November 4, 2015 Matilda had her first seizure. On November 22, 2015 it was confirmed that Matilda has epilepsy. At first the doctors believed she had complex partial seizures but now think she is having atypical absence seizures. Over the past six months we've had 4 trips to the ER (2 by ambulance!), 2 EEG's, one MRI, tried 4 different medications and a lovely unexpected 5 day/4night stay at BC Children's Hospital over spring break. And finally Matilda is on a medication that seems to be working. It's been a crazy long journey but we've had enormous support from family and friends near and far. And the most important thing to remember is that Matilda is a happy healthy little girl who just happens to have epilepsy - the epilepsy does not define who she is. I think that's why I haven't posted anything about our epilepsy journey thus far...just as Anna has an ear infection today Matilda just also happens to have epilepsy. It's just another part of life and it is OK. I'm not sure if I'll ever post anything else about Matilda's epilepsy but as for today... today we celebrate 5 weeks seizure free.

Our Hospital Vacation

Below is a picture I took on our fourth day at the hospital. Matilda kept insisting she wanted to go home and eat crunchy tacos. She looks sad in the photo but it's a photo that makes me smile because all I remember is how she cute and funny it was when she gathered up all her stuffies on the bed and insisted I put them in the bag to go home! And yes - I made her crunchy tacos her first night home. 

On another note...for those of you wondering how this has been affecting Anna....Anna is my STAR! She has been calm, understanding (as much as a 6 year old can!), and been more helpful than I could hope for.