Santa Came!

What a crazy wonderful few days! Christmas has come and gone, but the memories will remain. Emily and Liam are at the perfect age for the magic of Christmas. Emily was so excited Christmas morning that she was up at 1:00 a.m. because she swore she heard Santa cough. She finally fell asleep around 3:00 a.m. and Liam woke her up at 8:20 a.m. Down the stairs they ran to the living room and presents under the tree. Mine and Todd's parents were here as well which was a great treat, having both sets of grandparents Christmas morning. We then headed over to Todd's sister's house for Christmas day dinner.

Boxing Day was pretty casual, but busy. We spent most of the day outside; Todd starting up his Christmas present (a chainsaw), tobogganing (before having a couple of accidents), skating on the community outdoor ice rink and finally Zoo Lights with friends. Todd and I are both off work this week, so we're enjoying time with the kids.

Christmas morning meyhem

New Oilers toque

Wolverine - a gift from Santa

Indoor climbing wall - Todd and Dzadzu put it up Christmas Eve. What kids have their own climbing wall?!

Christmas Day dinner

Cheers!

Family face-off

Zoo Lights

Hayhead at Zoo Lights

Merry Christmas!

Busy Time of Year

It's that time of year where you try to fit everything in - last minute shopping, family visits, dance recitals, school Christmas concerts and of course some playtime.

This past week Emily had her grade 1 Christmas party. Her class did a ribbon dance to a song that the grade 2s sang. It was cute to see her concentrate and take the dance quite seriously. She feels confident and fits in at the school so it's cute to watch her interact with kids, teachers and parents.

On Saturday she had her two dance recitals - jazz and ballet. Again very cute to watch her enthusiasm.

Then off to visit Todd's oldest brother and his family. We won't get a chance to see them over the holidays so we spent a couple of days with them. Emily and Liam love their cousins so they were very good kids.

In sync with her jazz dance friend

Switching gears to ballet

Oilers vs. Ovechkin

Liam, Emily and Boston

Getting some fresh cold air

Moving On Up...to the 35th Floor

My work colleagues and I moved buildings last week. We are now in the tallest building in Calgary (at least until the Bow is complete) and on the 35th floor. Apparently during strong winds, you can feel the building sway.

View from my office window

Party #3

Liam had his preschool Christmas party yesterday. Emily had the afternoon off so was able to come along. As they were doing a craft, she exclaimed, "Preschool is awesome!" She was there two years ago and felt right at home.

Singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Watching the teachers' play - "Goldy Locks and the Two Bears"

Christmas snack with the posse

The Parties Continue

We took Emily and Liam to my company's Kids' Christmas party yesterday and then to the Hitmen hockey game. It was the 15th annual Teddy Bear Toss so the kids each brought a stuffy to throw onto the ice after the first Hitmen goal. During last year's game, they collected 22,000+ bears for needy children. The goal came in the 2nd period and we left right after that. Too cold and tired to stay out.

Two Christmas reindeer

Teddy Bear Toss

Wasn't that a Party

We hosted Todd's staff Christmas party at our house last night. Approximately 22 people, two 7 bone prime rib roasts, two cases of wine (plus MY Malbec , a gift from my secret santa from work I might add) and lasting until just after 2:00 a.m. The kids spent the night at their cousins' house so we were able to kind of sleep in and then clean the aftermath. Good times.

Chef Liam helping dad

Feeling Nostalgic

For whatever reason I was feeling nostalgic for when the kids were little. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Emily discovering her toes

Liam discovering his foot

Staying Warm

It's snowing again so hunkering down with a fire tonight.

Annual Cookie Exchange

Every year my 'Emily baby group' gets together for a Christmas cookie exchange. This was our 7th year.

2003

2009 - original kids + round 2 (one case round 3)

Let it Snow....again

Another blustery winter day yesterday. I took the afternoon off again yesterday (using up those PTOs). Emily had a play date so Liam and I hung out and ran some errands before the storm hit. Another crazy windy night.

Liam digging out in the morning.

PTO ie. Flex day

Since I essentially didn't have a summer, I have a lot of remaining PTOs (personal time off days). If you don't use them, you lose them so I am using them. I took the morning off yesterday to volunteer in Emily's class and I took today off to hang with the little man.

After dropping Emily off at school, Liam and I headed to Cross Iron Mills. I wanted to check out Revolve Kids for some bedroom furniture. No luck. Although Liam did see a red leather chaise lounge for kids that he loved. He thought Emily would like it, too. Then we headed for Toys R Us. The place is huge and I got lots of ideas for Christmas. I'll have to go back on my own as my goal is to be finished Christmas shopping by the 2nd week of December.

Emily has a spelling review each Friday so this week's deal was if she gets 100% she can get a Japanese fighting fish (since a dog is out of the question). She spelled all of her words correctly so after picking her up, we headed to Market Mall to get the fish. Of course Liam also had to get one. They named them Jeffrey and Beffrey.

Our mattress was delivered today so tonight is the first night we'll sleep in our room. And the dishwasher was hooked up (we've been hand washing for two months). It was a good day for house stuff. Driving home was another story. It snowed today and took us about hour to get home from Market Mall - usually a 15 minute drive. It's a perfect night to park in the garage, light a fire and enjoy a glass of red wine.

One for the future wedding

Liam is into costumes and dressing up these days. This is him wearing his sister's poncho and one of my scarves. Todd is proud of his boy.