Grassroots Hockey

Liam started Grassroots hockey today. He's been hockey/skating obsessed for the past few months and since he's too young for Timbits hockey, we registered him for the grassroots league. What a happy and excited kid!

Speedy "Oiler"

The sole Oiler in the mix

Going for the puck in the corner

Surrounded by "Flames"

Day Trip to Banff

Continuing our Christmas holidays...we decided to head to Banff for the day. We first went skating on a pond by the Bow Falls and then enjoyed a dip at the Banff Hot Springs. Liam fell asleep on the way home and even stayed asleep when I carried him to bed. All that fresh mountain air does wonders.

Todd and Liam

A brave coyote howling at the people skating below

Holidays are Fun

We're still on holidays so we took the kids skating and sledding today with a friend and her family. Lots of fun, especially on a beautiful winter day.

Merry Christmas!

Family, friends, gifts, food, wine and just one meltdown sums up the last few days. We hosted 16 of our family for Christmas Eve dinner and then 8 for Christmas day dinner. It was a great three days of having both my parents and Todd's parents stay at our house, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends visiting.

Best quote of the holidays was Christmas morning when Emily and Liam woke up. They were super excited, but it was still dark out. Last Christmas they slept until about 8:00 a.m so for some reason I thought the would do the same this year. When they woke up I asked Emily what time her clock radio said. Emily, "Six dot dot zero one." 6:01 a.m.! Guess who had a rare meltdown by 8:00 a.m.?

Visiting with Uncle John & Auntie Pam

The two grandpas celebrating Grandpa's birthday on Christmas Eve with Rum cake

Emily & Liam opening one gift Christmas Eve night

The living room once the kids were in bed - not a creature was stirring, not even Coco the guinea pig

Emily opening her Gogo Furreal dog from Santa

Liam playing with his DSi from Santa

The aftermath

Grandma & Emily having a quick snooze after all the excitement and early morning

Emily playing marbles with dzadza

Crafts to Entertain

Todd went to Edmonton Friday night to celebrate his brother's 50th birthday so the kids and I had a gingerbread-building and Frosty the Snowman movie night. We continued the crafts with a paper mache volcano on Saturday.

Getting the house ready to decorate (and eating the decorations!)

The finished product

Gooey paper mache

Liam's volcano

Emily's volcano - the painting is still to come...

Christmas Concerts

The Christmas celebrations continued this week with both Emily's and Liam's school concerts. Emily's was Wednesday night and Liam's was tonight. They were both super cute and made me proud. Liam even wore clothes other than his sweats! Although not very willingly at first.

Emily singing in the front centre row.

Pretty girl in a pretty dress.

Liam getting ready to sing the first of three songs in the back row.

First a French song, then English and ending with a Spanish version of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.

Potluck dinner after the concert.

My cuties. Check out Liam's sweater, khakis and dress shoes! Lots of comments on how nice he looked. Maybe this will expand his horizons past his sweats, t-shirts and barefeet.

Party Party Party

Last week we hosted two Christmas parties at our house and attended one more. It all started on Thursday where I hosted about 26 of my co-workers. The party started at 1:00 p.m. and the last of the group left around 10:00 p.m. Next up was Todd's firm's party on Saturday night. This was a sit down dinner with turkey and all the fixings. Todd also prepared smoked goose which was a hit. Then on Sunday we took the kids to my company children's party. There was face painting, food, dancing heads, ice skating, bouncy castles and even a gift for Emily and Liam. We topped off that evening at the Calgary Hitmen game. It was the annual teddy bear toss where as soon as the Hitmen scored their first goal, thousands of teddy bears were tossed onto the ice. I think the estimate was around 25,000 bears that went to kids at hospitals and other charitable organizations. We all really enjoyed the parties and the 'toss' but were exhausted!

Getting ready for party #1

Secret Santa gift exchange

The kids love a party!

Party #2

Painting some mistletoe and a candy cane

Gingerbread man

It's raining bears!