Enjoying January

We have been having a lot of fun in January. Here are Andrew and Emily playing together with some new Christmas toys wearing some of their new Christmas clothes.

Emily loves sitting up on chairs by herself and LOVES reading books. She is walking everywhere now, and is starting to say a few more words. She signs for "more" and shakes her head for "no". She definitely gets her point across letting us know what she wants and does not want.

She eats from dishes and uses utensils, though as you can see her precision is still a work in progress. She sometimes needs to be whisked right into the bath after she eats.

We were so busy leading up to Christmas and on the holiday break we ran out of time to make Christmas Candy houses the boys had seen featured in Chirp magazine. Last weekend we decided to make Winter houses which they were very pleased with.

This is earlier this week, when we had no real snow to speak of. Andrew has been doing a lot of riding, and now rides a two wheeler with training wheels. He looks very grown up as compared to when he was riding his tricycle. Since this photo was taken we've gotten a bunch of snow, so bike riding has been replaced with snow shovelling and sledding.

This was a day I thought I'd never see! Andrew has been most noise sensitive, as was Matthew, and would cry everytime the vacuum was brought out. Now he has decided that loud noises no longer bother him, and he even likes taking a turn with the vacuum.

Bruce and Matthew hit the slopes today. Matthew had been doing blue runs now and evidently did his first black diamond run today. I am kind of glad I was not there to see that!

Welcoming 2008!

We welcomed the New Year with a fun, and most delicious party we were lucky enough to be invited to. We did not stay up until midnight in Calgary, but celebrated along with some earlier time zones. Matthew was the biggest partier in our family.




Emily was more alert this year than for the last New Year's she mostly slept through. She seems to have inherited the Chocolate Gene, and discovered Icy Squares for the first time.

On New Year's Day we went to friends' now annual Skating Party. We were all out on the ice, including Andrew on bob skates pushing Emily in her stroller. He quite enjoys skating which took us a bit by suprise. We then went back for a feast of food. That marked the end of the 'eating' season and we are back to our regular fare now.

Boxing Day in Calgary

We made a quick return to Calgary on Boxing Day, to have a Birthday dinner for me, and open presents that we had waiting here. The kids were very tired from Regina and the flight home, but very excited to see family here. Emily caught a catnap just as people were arriving, and yes she was napping standing up. We transfered her to her crib, but only after snapping her photo.

Here she is all refreshed and ready for fun.

I had some help to blow out candles.

Here's Andrew the next day wearing new Christmas present clothes and reading his new Curious George book. He is a Curious George fan through and through.

Mmmmm Snoopy Snow Cones.....there is nothing like them for breakfast!

I'll be in Regina for Christmas

The kids may someday realise that others go to more exotic locals such as Disneyland and the beach for holidays, but for them trips to Edmonton or Regina to visit family and friends are just the best. This year we spent Christmas in Regina. The kids were pleased that Santa found our stockings there. Here is Andrew opening one of his presents.

Now it is Emily's turn.

Here is Andrew playing with a combination of his new toys.

Bruce said Andrew could pick three desserts for after Christmas dinner. He is a man after my own heart and picked the last three nanaimo bars.

12 Days of Christmas

On the 6 weekends leading up to Christmas, Heritage park nearby has Christmas activites that the kids enjoy. We didn't bring our skates, but making Ice Angels was just as fun.

The Christmas train display is always a favorite.

We decorated cookies, drank our hot chocolate, and then wrote letters to Santa.

Andrew should have been a farm boy as he loves playing on the hay bales.

Christmas Card Rejects

Hopefully by now almost everyone has received their Christmas cards from us. This post will help you better appreciate the photo that we sent out, and hopefully will give a good laugh to anyone who has tried to photograph three children at the same time. The photo we sent was the best of over a hundred tries at four different photo shoots.

This time I had all three children dressed up nicely with Matthew in a dress shirt and Emily in a formal dress. Well Andrew refused to be photographed with his siblings, and would only pretend to be "sleeping" which he felt was very humorous.

Here we are outside, but Andrew's prop is a bit of a problem for poor Emily!

We are really happy to be out here posing by snow covered greenery mom.

Get me out of here...please!

In this shoot I had a number of great ones of Matthew and Emily, but all Andrew could do was pretend to spit in each one.

We will have to see if we go to Sears or Walmart next year. Every January I swear we will do that for the next year, and by November or December the following year we are too late and pulling out our own camera.