Today is the first day of almost done school. We finished the homeschool building on Friday and now it's time to relax a bit. Josh and Ken left for Washington DC for a class trip for the week, so I was up super early and my first thought was -BLOG! (: I have so many pictures to share. 

Tessa was born on Tuesday and this was the Sunday before. I have never had such a big baby belly. I didn't really gain any weight. It was all in the baby. It's no wonder people asked at church that morning if I was still hanging in there. I was huge and didn't realize. My face has that ready to deliver look. Boy was I ready. 

Smitten is the only appropriate word. 

No so sure about this...

Another Daddy's girl. He looks as tired as I was! (:

First picture of the six. 

Josh met her for the first time when we came home the next day. 

This will always be one of my favouites. It shows her peanut size. 

I left some stuff in my hospital room and they Fed-Ex'ed it to me. Seriously that is service! (:

2 weeks old in our hotel room in Brampton. Look at her little bum. I can't get enough it! (: 

Natalie is great with her! 

On the way to Brampton we stopped in at my parents and my sister and her kids met Tessa for the first time. Nora doesn't really know us that well. She is almost 2 and we have been gone her whole life. She loves Tessa. She has been super shy of me her whole life. Now she loves me. All i had to do is have a baby.  Ha ha!  (:

My life long friend  came to visit me a few weeks ago and took at ton of pictures. I have them all on a CD and will share some of them later. I first had to get these pictures on here. (: But this is my fave so far. It's a special one to me. 

The Homeschool building has been a huge part of our lives. It gave the kids school experience with teachers, deadlines, tests in a desk etc. It was fabulous on so many levels. I loved that the kids loved it and had great experiences there, but it also took some of the weight off of my shoulders. I will always be thankful for it and it makes me cry to leave it. It was a great balance.

Grace took music and on Thursday night there was a program. Grace's kinder music sang with the big kid choir.

Her class also played a song on the recorder and the glockenspiel. Her teacher was Miss Janae. 

The Last day on Friday. 

I love this so much and so did Natalie. Sometimes Tessa's tummy hurts and slinging her helps a ton. But I can't get as much done with her in the sling and sometimes I just need to. So Natalie has become my slinger. I wish I had thought of this a few weeks ago when I was feeling overwhelmed with a baby who was always attached to me. Look at Tessa's face!! FOR REAL!!!

We went to the big dutch parade in Holland on Saturday. It's so big that we went the night before and put chairs out so we could get a spot! (: The marching bands were amazing. My fav is the Holland highschool. They wears wooden shoes, count in dutch and sound amazing. They have got great moves too! (: Grace ate up every part. I could share pics of the parade itself, but her face is way cuter and will make me remember that parade. IT WAS FREEEZING!!! I couldn't take Tessa out of  her seat because of the wind. I actually went to the hotel lobby across the street to feed her! (:

I finally caught a hint of her smile on camera on Saturday.  She smiled so big on Saturday that I saw her 2 dimples.Before Tessa was born, Grace was hoping her baby would have "dimplers"!

Well, I thought I showed a great deal of restraint by only sharing this many pictures! (: Little Tessa has been a beautiful blessing to us. It makes things busy for me right now, but I am so thankful for the joy she brings and the special gift she is.

When Ken leaves for a week, the rhythm of our lives changes and there is not a lot of schedule.  I am not sure why that happens. This morning, the kids and I are going to go to through the freezer and are making a list of suppers we are going to have so we actually don't end up eating nutella toast for supper every night. It's so easy to get suuuuper relaxed. I also find that I get so much more done because of that lack of structure. I make a list and work through it throughout the week. So, a blog post can be scratched off my list now! (: Not bad for 8am the first day!

Our main job this week is to jump into packing. We are moving in 5 weeks and I have not started. In. Sanity. It will all get done, but there is a ton to do. I have put it off firstly because I am just plain tired. This little babes has worn this woman of 'advanced maternal age' out. (That is the term that was on my chart at the doc!) Secondly, we were very busy with school yet. Thirdly, it hurts my heart. I am not ready to move into our next chapter yet.  I know that we will love being back in Ontario with family again and that we will adjust quickly, but it doesn't take a way the ache of leaving people, places, things and memories behind. This place will always hold very special memories for us.

(My next post will be about Ken's graduation and where we are going I can't slam everything into one post and I have a hangry baby to take care of!)

Later (: