Sibling Rashalry

Karin seems to be just like her brother, prone to massive eczema breakouts. Looks like she gets them a bit easier though, as she went from just a couple of spots on her back to full body rash in 24 hours. Massive systemic eczema...we're supposed to rub her head to toe with Protopic, and put Fucidin cream on her hands and chin, where the spots have become infected with what looks like impetigo.

My poor beautiful daughter looks like she has chicken pox or something....she's pretty tolerant of the situation, but occasionally cries and says it's "owwie / itchy".

Photos coming when I find the camera cord....sigh.

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.

Winter Baby

"Holy Cow, that's a lot of snow!"


"I mean, just look at it all!!"

"Good thing I'm too little to shovel...."

Photos from a few weeks ago when we had a big snowfall. These days it's not quite so white, but we do have some lingering icy snowbanks...and our snowman hung in there to the very last moment.

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.

Chance: "Mom, your skin looks like Pill Pudding's".

Me: "Who is Pill Pudding?"

Chance: "Like on Star Wars 3 when Anakin goes to rescue Pill Pudding" (Palpatine).

Why isn't this stuff on anti-aging commercials??? I'm only 31 (OK nearly 32) years old!!

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.

Vocab Roundup

Punkies = Pumpkins
Show!
Baddle = Bottle (ie. steel water bottle)
More!
Potty
Pee Pee
Buckie = Bucket
My Boots = new (hand-me-down) cowboy boots from Chance
Mommy Boots = Mom's cowboy boots
Whassat / Whassisit = What's that / What is it **

** hearing this one a LOT. Little sponge!