Christmas Holiday Wrap Up

Had a great Christmas vacation this year. Everyone in our family was healthy, amidst many of our friends who had the flu. After last Christmas, we will never take being healthy for the holidays for granted again!

Enjoyed a good deal of time outside on the toboggan hill and got Chance out for a cross country ski. The weather has been very warm and we're nearly out of snow now, so glad we took advantage of the outdoor time over the holidays. Here is Karin sacked out after a sled hill excursion:

Christmas morning joys: cups of tea for everyone!

I think they were aiming at the cat when I took this photo...

I stuffed my first huge turkey for Boxing Day dinner with Cam's parents. Usually we stick with smaller chickens....so wrassling this thing was a bit of a challenge but it was pretty tasty. Got a little crazy and cut off all my hair a few days before Xmas....still loving having "easy" hair. I'm sure the "growing out" phase will drive me just as crazy as the long hair maintainance.

Cam absorbing the Christmas Mess....we really tried to keep things organized (red bag for wrapping paper, boxes for taking gifts up to bedrooms after opening, etc.) but it really didn't help much...haha.

We rang in the New Year with friends from home, it was a great time. Got to meet the latest addition as friends welcomed their daughter into the world just a few days before Xmas....babies sure are amazing little creatures. The kids made it to 11 PM and then were showing signs of getting wound up to the point of no return and/or critical meltdown, so we made the decision to go home and let the car ride settle them down for bed. Cam and I did our smooch on the couch watching the Calgary New Years fireworks on the TV.

Well now we've been back at work for the first week of 2012 and I can say there's a night and day difference in how I feel, so must mean we had a relaxing time. Cam started a new job and is having a good time so far I think. His new office is more centrally located, so it's making life a bit easier in the way of commute / getting together for lunch / going to the gym. Karin's birthday is just around the corner and so we're looking forward to a visit with my parents then, as well as hopefully some skiing out in the mountains and thinking we're going to introduce Chance to the bunny hill at COP. Chance is just dying to get back to school, he misses his teacher and friends there, so Monday will be really exciting for him.

Trimming the Tree!

Proud of their accomplishment! I can't say I helped much this year, was laid up with a cold that made me want to curl up and sleep for 400 years, so just sat in the corner with my camera. Kids had a wonderful time and every day there's a few extra ornaments that get created at school or at home that end up on the tree.

1 month time warp!

Caught in the act...trying to get up on the counter to play with her brother's Lego.
Anxious for snow much???

Christmas party face paints (Karin has a snow man on her cheek, but it's on the wrong side).

Visiting the Big Man. Very exciting!

...or maybe terrifying is the right word!

This month just flew by! We had a good visit with family earlier in the month, with good highways & good kids in the van. The plane rides, falling asleep in the van with the kids & change in bed took a toll on my neck so it has been out of whack, good thing the chiropractor is just outside my elevator bank at work, haha.

Curling on nights has been going well. Our team has had a series of up and down games but we're starting to see real improvement in our skills (ie. rarely hog a rock or throw through the house these days). The only thing is by the end of the week, sometimes it's all I can do to drag myself to the curling rink...the good news is it's only a 2 minute drive away from the house, so at least it's close. Cam's curling is going well too.

Work is work. :P

Kids are growing fast. Chance is starting to bring home lots of stories and songs from Kindergarten. They have a letter themed show and tell most days (usually they cover 3 letters per week, they finished up on "M" this week -- Chance brought the tumbled magnetite I bought him at a geology conference. He said everyone wanted to try playing with it, you could tell he was happy with the choice to bring it to school. When they covered the letter "K" he brought my kneepads, which he was really excited to show for some reason and said that everyone laughed at him...hard lessons already, my heart broke when he told us at the end of the day. Chance got up on his skates last weekend at the kids' party thrown by my work. It was held at the Stampede grounds, with an adjoining skating arena. Santa was present and we had a kid gourmet meal of hot dogs and hamburgers. Face painting, balloon animals, kraft kits to take home, etc. All in all a great morning and afternoon.

Karin has some new words these days: princess, food-ah (food), ehwant (I want). Also she came to me yesterday and was acting strange, and I asked her if she needed to go #2 (she usually goes around that time and it's the only thing I could think of that could be bothering her) & she said yes! We went to the bathroom and the big girl did her jobbie on the toilet! One less diaper to change yesterday...so today during her regular "quiet" time I'll be sure to ask her again.

Not a whole lot on the go today. The house needs some tidying up in places and we are thinking of heading over to the Farmers Market. On the way back I want to stop at a dollar store or something to get some craft supplies to keep kids busy on cold days. Yesterday was quite warm, all the snow melted on the deck and we went for a run in the late afternoon. That melted snow turns the deck into a treacherous surface, so last week bought some "sandy" rough tape that sticks onto the edge of the stairs. Last thing anyone needs here is a busted leg or thrown out back!

Oh and bought an order of beef from my friend Chrissy, she's got a friend that is a local beef farmer. Last week's was one of the best beef roasts we've had, it was even better leftover.

Catching up with last 3 weeks!

Chance with Canadian Leaf at Fort Calgary Canada Day celebrations. Big hugs!

Karin thoroughly enjoyed the petting zoo. She called all the 4 legged animals (goats, sheep, pigs) "puppies". She called the baby chicks "PEEP PEEP PEEP!!!!"

Karin has been introduced to corn on the cob. There's a good 2 minute squall when you take the chewed up cob away and refuse to give a new one (in this case, we had finished all of them...she was very upset!)

Chance and Karin taking a juice break.

Two of my four kitchens have been finished. The square one has made its way to a home for foster children (our friend works there) - the other I'm hoping to donate through a group that I've volunteered with before.

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter morning busy-ness.

Ivy.

Karin.

Ayla and Chance. Ayla's clearly in the lead.

Tuckered out from a morning of searching for eggs.

The Easter Bunny made a visit to our house and left treats for the kids...it didn't take them long to find all of the eggs, sharp kids. Our friends stayed overnight and the grownups went out for dinner while the kids stayed with a babysitter. Returned home to assemble the little plastic eggs and hide them...only it took me the better part of an hour looking for the eggs....I hid them so well I had a hard time remembering where I had put them!

Time going by fast!

Now that I am back at work time is just flying by. It has literally been WEEKS since I took any pictures of the kids. That is my goal this weekend, to break out the camera and take some photos and videos. I especially love going back to the videos of when Chance was a 1 year old and comparing to now. Life seemed simpler back then when it was just him and I said to Cam that I feel bad for Karin that we don't have as much time to play with her like we did with Chance. Cam's response was that Karin doesn't need us to play with her, she has an awesome older brother to do that with.

I'd also like to start sewing PJ pants for Chance this weekend. I bought some cute fabric with dump trucks and tools for that project, he was disappointed that I wasn't starting right NOW when I showed him the cloth, haha.

Will have to fill out Valentine cards with Chance this weekend. His play school sent a list of kids to facilitate that project. Otherwise there would be only 3 kids of 10 getting cards, as Chance only talks about Riley, Ayan and Brianna.

Karin is starting to make lots of noises. "Ooooooooo", "da"="dad?", "bah"="bye", "muhmuhmuh"="milk?", "and "kajookajookajoo", which is my personal favorite.

Christmas Day

This one is from Santa to Chance!

Special gift from Chance's Ontario Aunties.

Karin's first Christmas - Santa brought her baby sized cereal bars and a toque!

Christmas dress and new haircut.

Chance woke up at 6 AM. He opened his door..."CLICK!" (his door has magnets on it rather than the usual door knobs because he has French doors on his bedroom). He popped his head out into the hallway and listened...no one was awake. So he went back into his bedroom and closed the door... "CLICK!!". 10 minutes later, his curiosity peaked again. "CLICK!.....CLICK!". Another 10 minutes later, he could bear it no more and opened his door again, only this time Cam and I were asleep and didn't hear the "CLICK!" and instead only hear the "thump thump thump thump" of him jumping up and down. I rolled over and poked Cam and said maybe we should just get up, he's doing laps in his bedroom...and then 2 inches from my ear Chance piped up "NO I'm right here! Mom, Santa was here and he left two presents!!" Just about jumped out of my skin!

We made him eat a bowl of Cheerios before tackling his Santa gift and stocking. He was pretty impressed that Santa brought him a Megatron Transformer just like he asked. It kept him busy enough until Karin got up around 9. We got her fed and then got her opening gifts too -- she had a great time ripping paper. Santa brought her a bowling pin set...she spent the whole morning running around the house with a pin in each hand and screaming "OOOOOOO!!!"

We spent most of the day in our jammies. Chance finally had enough somewhere around noon or 1 and got dressed, but I think the rest of us took a few more hours.

THANK YOU everyone for the lovely Christmas gifts and warm wishes.

Everyone seemed to be feeling healthy on Christmas day and that was my highlight. I had been so worried that the kids would come down with the rotten flu that Cam and I had earlier in the week.

We had a ham supper with scalloped potatoes (new food processor sliced 6 spuds in 0.3 seconds) and corn. No room for dessert so the blueberry tarts I made went into the fridge for another night. We stayed up late with Chance and watched his new movie, Toy Story 3.

Merry Christmas to all!

Well, it will be in a few hours here. I still haven't gotten rid of my bad habit of getting up in the night.

This morning Chance and I took Karin for her first haircut. At first we just gave her bangs and trimmed her ends but she looked like she had a mullet, so then we asked to have it all lopped off to be a cute little girlie bob. Photos to come!

We had a very simple Christmas Eve compared to ones in the past, which we have usually had a lobster supper. Tonight Cam and I are recuperating from the flu (touch wood so far the kids haven't caught it) so we stuck with beef barley soup and a tomato salad with balsamic vinegar. Chance and Karin ate well, then Karin demolished an Oreo cookie while Chance hacked into his recently completed gingerbread house. We bathed the kids (Chance showered....a "big" kid thing lately), and then snuggled together on the couch and enjoyed Mickey's Christmas Carol. Karin went to bed at 7:30 or so and we finished the cartoons and then left snacks for Santa and his reindeer. Chance then went to bed at 8:30. We heard him get up once...but he never got out of his bedroom: "Thump. Thump thump thump thump....thump thump thump thump....whump!" He must have remembered 1 step from his door that Santa doesn't come if you're not asleep! Tomorrow is likely going to be an early start as he is VERY excited about opening gifts.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Christmas!

5 days of Christmas

I posted a video of Chance on youtube singing his version of the "5 days of Christmas" and included a translation:

Translation:

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me: 5 golden rings, 4 calling birds, 3 french hens, 2 turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree!!!

I was corrected by a random viewer named Snappy Penguins with the following:

More accurate translation:

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to mmmoorrrghhhh: EURGHHH GOLDEN URGHH, three French hens, three turtle doves, and pah-tree-a-lemon pear TROOOOOOUGHGHGUHAGAWAGAAGAGaaw­ahayyy.......

I stand corrected.

Dear Santa

Halloween 2010

What a busy Sunday it was! We had a great birthday party for Chance on Sunday afternoon, he had a lot of friends come & I think everyone had a good time. We played Monster Bingo, Musical Chairs with Halloween music (Monster Mash, Thriller, Ghostbusters, etc.) and bashed in a pinata that Chance and I made over the course of the month of October. We had a Transformer cake (Omega Supreme -- very Eighties, thank you Retro Channel). We ordered pizza for supper and then went trick or treating with Chance, Karin got left behind with Gramma Jo and Grampa Phil. Next year she can go out with the big kids. We teamed up with some neighbours so Spiderman Chance was joined by Buzz Lightyear Landen and Delaney the Monkey. He came home an hour and a half later with 4 pounds of candy. 4 pounds!!!

Pumpkins were carved with a "superhero" theme this year: we had Spiderman, Batman and Ironman (everyone thought it was a Transformer).


We didn't get visited much though, and we were warned of this. Because we live on a busy street, families tend to stay within the centre of the neighbourhood. So we got 11 little "spooks" as my neighbour calls them. The last one was a little tiger that took home the remaining helium balloons from the party.

Everyone waiting for the cake to be cut.

Love this one - he looks happy.


"Mmmmmmm!!"

Chow Time.

Poor Blue Monster - he really got whacked around. Eventually we had to switch to a baseball bat because the play broom wasn't doing enough damage. He was done in by a 22 month old girl (Fred's daughter Pebbles).

Musical chairs. Optimus Prime won the game (the Kitty gave him a run for his money though).

Chance trying out my witch's claws.

The Haul.

Our pumpkins! We had so few visitors that we burned them in the living room -- we might as well enjoy them!!

All decked out for Trick or Treating! I painted his face so that his mask wouldn't get in the way, also I decked him out with reflective tape and bike lights that I got from a cycle shop.

Cowgirl Karin didn't really know what to make of all the action.

Splish Splash

"Relaxing spa treatment?"

Miss La-Dee-Da

Karin thoroughly enjoyed her tin tub days at the cabin while we were on vacation. It was just the right height for her to grip the edge and haul herself up to standing. This was done every time water was poured over her head, usually with spitting and eyelashes fluttering. She also liked to chew on the edge of the tub, which was cute to no end, however I never seemed to capture it on camera. She'd always poke her head up and grin.

Click here for Chance's tub time adventures as a baby.

Trip to Saskatchewan

We spent a week in Saskatchewan at the end of May. I flew with both kids and then Cam joined us a week later for a short weekend visit, then we all returned home together.

We arrived at the airport a full 2 hours ahead of our flight which was just about perfect. Once we got through security (Chance had to remove his shoes and refused to cross the metal detector gate), we had a few minutes to play with the airport toys (giant wind up merry-go-round featuring various propeller planes) and eat lunch, go to the bathroom and then it was time time to board. Then the plane just sat there for 30 mins. Some minor delay, but when you have a limited number of distractions for a toddler and a hungry baby on your hands, it was a bit stressful. I didn't want to nurse Karin until we were taking off so that she would eat and go to sleep. Managed to hold her off until takeoff, and she did just that - what a great passenger!

Our only picture of the four of us to date. Hard to believe, but I guess someone has always been holding the camera!

Proud grandparents. Chance's attention span (or lack thereof) starting to show.

Auntie Darryl & Uncle Russ

Cousin Jocelyn

Four generations of women.

Sucking her thumb somewhere between Regina and Indian Head.
Out of 10 photos, this is the best one!
Visiting the Royal Saskatchewan Museum with Gramma Jo. Chance commented "none of these animals are moving."
Visiting Public Works with Grampa Phil. Chance was literally in heaven. He could climb on any machine he liked (backhoe, vac truck, paver, roller, asphalt eater (shown here), snow plow, etc.) And they had cookies and balloons. What more could a kid ask for??