Getting Out...

We had a bit of extra fun in January.  We headed downtown to participate in Metropolis which is a winter festival.  There are 4 huge covered/heated structures that house different activities.  On the Saturday that we went, one tent had break dancing going on.  That was fun to watch.  Then there was a food tent and beer tent and a children's tent.  We checked out the food tent, not much really going on that we liked in there for a treat, we obliviously skipped the beer tent and stayed in the children's tent for a little bit. 
They had a few crafts to do, story books that you could take and sit down to read, they had a giant inflatable slide that you could go on, a caricature artist, and a magician. 

Megan wasn't too into the crafts and was pretty grumpy, then the magician came up to her and included her in his tricks and pranks. She started to smile and enjoyed herself. He multiplied rabbits (foam bunnies) right before her eyes, in her very own hands. She was in totally awe about that. Then Evan joined in the fun along with other kids in the tent. He was really good. 

The video above he is teaching them to juggle.  The video below he is playing his little flute and trying to tell them how to dance celtic style...this is what he got out of them.

Megan was interested in going on the slide.  So we payed $2 and she climbed up the stairs and had a good slide down.  Evan was too scared, but when he saw how fun it was he decided to go to.  Aaron was asleep in the stroller the whole time. 

One afternoon I was busy cleaning in the kitchen and washing vegetables and prepping them for the fridge, when I thought that we would "paint" with different vegetables.  So here is Aaron loving his time painting. 

We used an apple, carrot, I cut a potato and made some different shapes, and the root end of a bunch of celery.  He is very proud of his painting and loves to look at it and tell me what everything was made with.   This was one of those good mom moments.

January Date

So we started our new year off with a special date that I pulled together for us.  I marked it on our family calendar that hangs on our fridge.  I have one date a month planned and one trip to the temple planned for the entire year.  This year I'm going to try having our dates on a Saturday afternoon.  I don't enjoy the rush of Friday night dates so Saturday we can take it a bit slower. 

So I made a little invite to let Spencer know what we would be doing....I cut out words from the newspaper. 

We started off with lunch at Packrat Louie's.  Spencer had been there before for a work lunch and wanted me to try it too.  I remember living in the white ave. area while going to school and walked by this place often wishing that someday I'll be able to afford to eat there.  (I can check that off my bucket list!)

The weather was still a little chilly so for the next part of our date we took a short cut through Old Strathcona farmers market.  I love that place.  Spencer stopped to enjoy a singer/quartet playing blue grass/country tunes. 

We had to walk a few blocks to reach the Ice on Whyte festival that was at End of Steel Park.  It was neat to see all the ice carvings. 

Here I am standing if front of a church. 

One of Spencers favorite things was the ice slides.  A little cold on the bum but fun to go down.
There was a tent with heaters and hot chocolate and free entertainment.  We stayed for a while to get warmed up but then went back outside to finish looking at the ice sculptures. 

A dragon. At night there are lights that shine on the sculptures so I think it might have been easier to see the details in them.  

This one is of a dragonfly and a little fairy on mushrooms.  There were teams from all over the world who came to participate.  There was a competition and with winner was one of the Chinese teams. 

Oh, What beautiful skin you have....

We got a book about homemade facials, skin treatments, hair help...etc. from the library.   Megan found a couple of things that she wanted to try.... I think that she made a oatmeal/honey/milk facial scrub.  All natural and totally edible. 

She is a little unsure at first....



It was my pleasure to help her spread the goop all over her face.  

Winter Fun

While Christmas holidays were in full swing we decided to spend some time in Sherwood Park at their recreation center.  For $20 we had tons of fun. 

We started off with skating...

Then we moved on to the indoor play area.... indoor equipment, huge blocks to build with, slides, rock climbing wall, toys and other kids to play with. 



We took a break and had some lunch at the food court there and it cost us more to eat than to do all of our activities!

We finished our day with a swim in the wave pool.  Aaron loved to be safe in a little boat that floats and he kept making sure that whoever was helping him was holding on the the rope so that nothing happened to him.  Evan enjoyed the play structure with slides that they have.  Megan was good right up at the front of the waves in the pool with a tube.  Everyone enjoyed floating along in the lazy river. 



New Years 2012

Happy New Years!

Our New Years Celebrations were held at home.  I find it so much easier to do this right now with young children.  Going out and being up all night and then in a terrible mood the next day isn't worth it to me. 

This year I was debating if I should sign up for the Resolution Run that takes place where I live.  It happens fairly early on New Years Day and would be a great way to bring in the New Year.....with a healthy focus.  But my plans changed when I realized that New Years Day would be on Sunday.  So maybe next year we can do it.  Spencer and I could have done it on our own but I really wasn't that motivated to go for a chilly run.....

So we had fondue for our dinner; we tried a Chinese broth fondue which was nice.  We found out that the missionaries in our ward didn't have a place to go, so we last minute invited them over, which worked out pretty good, but they had to be back in their apartment by 6pm.  We didn't start eating until 5pm.  So it was a quick dinner with them.  Then we sent them on their way with a few games that they were able to play. 

I bought some of those Christmas Crackers for 50% off.  That was such a good deal.  We'll definately keep that tradition.  The kids had a blast and were bugging me all day....once they knew what they were, if they could open them.  They had to wait until dinner.  Megan was also eager to break into our Sparkling Apple Cider. 

Our only constraint for the night was one fondue pot for 7 people and we each only had one fondue fork to use.  Next year at least two pots and a few forks each.  I'll also make more side items to eat as I feel the only good thing to really fondue/cook is thinly sliced meats.  We tried to fondue vegetables but it just wasn't the same.  Anyway after the missionaries left and the kids were done.......

Spencer and I sat around and polished off the rest of the meats!  By this time we stole our kids forks and Spencer was even using a regular fork to get the job done!

The rest of the night consisted of watching some tv, playing wii, playing with those punching balloons, and we cracked a bunch of glow sticks and went outside for a brief sparkler display. 



My boys were tired at the regular bedtime and I was only too happy to put Aaron to sleep, I stayed up until 10pm and then wished everyone else a Happy New Year and went to bed.  Spencer soon followed.  Megan and Evan tried their very hardest to stay awake...but spencer ended up taking Evan to bed when he went to bed.  Megan wanted to stay up until midnight and we said that she could, but that right after she needed to go to bed.  She was trying to celebrate the new years with her character on the Wii game Animal Crossing...hoping to get some special new years prizes. 

Well I ended up waking up at 3am with the hall light on, so I went to check on everyone...boys sleeping in their room, check....Spencer beside me, check.....Megan, room light was on but no Megan.  So downstairs I went and there I found her asleep on the couch huddled under a thin couch blanket that we have.  I woke her up and helped her up to her room.  She cried the whole way -- she had actually fell asleep before midnight and missed out on her Animal Crossing celebration.  She tried travelling back in time to retrive her prize but that didn't work.  Poor girl.  She tried so hard, but it just didn't work out.  Maybe next year she'll have parents to support her in her quest to stay up all night. 

Cheers to 2012!



Christmas Celebrations!

Our Christmas was really good.  We enjoyed each others company, the activities, food, weather and of course opening presents on Christmas Day. 
Since Christmas Eve was on Saturday, we did have a few momements in the morning to clean and tidy up a bit for the big day.  The children spent some time playing the Wii then with such nice weather and the ponds outside finally frozen and safe to be on Spencer hauled us all out to do some ice skating.  This was a first for this winter season.  The ice surface was a bit rough but we managed and skated for about 45 minutes.  We brought along a folding chair for the children to push around and then after that we pulled them around in our sled.  Megan got the hang of it again, Evan struggled a bit more and Aaron was doing great since he has 4 bladed skates that strap to his boots.  This will definately have to be a monthly activity for us so we can continue to hone each of our skills.  Megan's word to the wise....remember to wear long socks; that go up past the skate boot; for a more comfortable time. 

It was so nice out that eventually I had to take off my winter coat and Evan's scarf that I'm wearing for him....but not the toque...once a toque goes on my head it can't come off #1  I like it, #2 it keeps my head warm and #3 my hair always look terrible!

We headed home and I hid the pickle on the tree.  Then sent the children back into the livingroom to see if they could find the pickle and thus be the one to open the pickle gift.  It was Evan's lucky year!  He spotted it fairly quickly and proceeded to open the gift for the family......Kung Fu Panda 2.   So we settled down and watched that later in the afternoon. 

We then had our dinner of cheese, crackers, sauages and some mexican type appetizers that I heated in the oven along with some sushi.  As I was putting everything on the table I realized that it was kinda a mix of everything and it really didn't go to well together.  We've had similar food in the past but it doesn't really suit my family's tastes.  So next year we will have to try something else. 


We then played some games; I read the Christmas Orange Story and we shared a chocolate orange then Spencer read the Christmas story as the kids put up my flannel board figures.  It went over ok.  We are also still tweeking our Christmas Eve traditions.  They all had showers/baths and  jumped into their first present of some new jammies.

I had fun picking out these PJ's for everyone.  I think that they look great.  Aaron especially loved his buzz light year ones, Evan is good with his woody ones as long as I don't say stuff like..."ride 'em cowboy or Hi there my names woody or look...there's a snake in my boot!"  he really doesn't like that I enjoy his fun PJ's that much.  Megan was in need of new PJ's and was a good sport to agree to wear some Jessie PJ's.  I only wish that they had Jessie PJ's that actually looked like Jessie's outfit like the other ones do but I'm pretty sure that no 9 year old girl would be too into that!

Next it was off to bed with them.  Spencer and I took a moment to sit down and watch some TV before doing our thing. 

Since Christmas Day was on Sunday this year we told the children that they could open up thier stockings and enjoy them before getting ready for church.  So that is what we did. 

Here is Megan going through some of her stocking.  We put in a few smaller gifts for them to open. 

Every  year we write letters to each other about something that we remember about them and their accomplishments or something we appreciate about each other, then we go through and read them out loud.  It is a lovely tradition and you can never be told too much about how much your appreciated.  Then we had to have a quick breakfast and get dressed and out the door to our sacrament meeting.  Our numbers were few since so many in our ward go away to visit other family members at the holidays.  We had our bishopric speak and a few musical numbers and some singing by everyone else too.  I was glad for the focus that attending church on Christmas Day brought to our Christmas celebrations.  

We quickly drove home to open our presents.  We try and do it in an orderly manner....we all enjoyed some really good gifts and some really useful ones too. The children said that they had a really good Christmas.  It think they enjoyed everything they got and all the experiences that we shared in this season. 

 

Here is Spencer with a runner's ID tag that he can attach to his shoe....since he runs alone early in the morning.   This makes me feel better about him being by himself. 

More tools for our handy man.  Hopefully there will be enough to share with my other handy mans'.

These are my babies....oh how I love, love, love to wear slippers around the house.  Especially in the winter time. 

After we opened presents and before our little Christmas dinner, we had some dear friends stop by to help celebrate with us.  We had a few more treats and some hot Christmasy drinks.  More gifts to open and friendships renewed.

Then I proceeded to make our christmas dinner, we had a large chicken (I didn't want all the time and prep of cooking a turkey, I already had my turkey fill at thanksgiving), mashed sweet potatoes with turnips, buns, salad, Savoy cabbage with sage butter and of course cranberry sauce.  It tasted delicious!  The perfect way to end off a perfect day. 

Holiday Happenings...

I feel like I finally have time to write about what we have been up to in December.  Of course we've been as busy as usual....but with a holiday twist to everything this month.

I am referring to my calendar that I keep on my fridge that helps to keep me organized for the most part; as this month has flown....most days I could hardly remember if I was coming or going....

1.  We watched to the First Presidency's Christmas devotional.  We got it hooked up and were able to view it downstairs on our TV as opposed to having to squish around our computer monitor.  New technology is fabulous isn't it?  The messages were really enjoyable and the music wonderful.  This is always a great way to start our Christmas season.

2.  The first of the month included a field trip with Megan and her school choir.  They sang at Service Canada and then at City Hall.  It was a good time and they did really well considering that their pianist fell ill at the last moment and they had to sing acappella and karioke for all their songs.

They even got their picture taken and put up on the Edmonont Journal website...they were all wearing black pants/white shirts and santa hats. 

3.  I had our RS Christmas Party.  Appetizers and desserts with a short program about how sisters in our ward help to bring Christ into Christmas.  Then our Bishop spoke about how to live a more Christ Centered life.  It is always nice to get together and be able to chat with the sisters in our ward.  We get to visit and talk with each other in ways that we don't get to on Sundays.  It was a bit stressful getting everything organized, since my committee was mostly released then new ones called....that sort of thing always happens during a busy time.

4.  Spencer had his work party.  New clothes, good food, good visiting with others at our table, we won a prize, danced a little and got our picture taken. 

 5.  Spencer sang in his sisters ward christmas fireside along with his parents.  It was a nice evening but made for a long Sunday.  Aaron fell asleep on the ride over and remained asleep on the bench for pretty much the whole program.  Evan and Megan were starting to struggle by the end of the evening.  It sure is hard to keep children quite when they need to be after having to be reverent at church.  I wanted to bring them as part of this experience of seeing thier grandma and grandpa sing together along with their dad.  Hopefully we are building precious memories of thier family/extended family.

6.  I brought Aaron along to help out Evan's kindergarden class make gingerbread houses.  The parents donated the candy and the actually decorated empty clean milk cartons.  A perfect idea for young children to be able to do it by themselves mostly.  We had fun being with Evan.  I was feeling bad for Aaron since he had been coming with me on my various errands all month so I took him to Millenium place in Sherwood Park and we played at the indoor playground and he got McDonald's to eat for lunch.  He is such a trooper. 

7.  We visited the lights at the Legislature along with the choirs and some free hot chocolate.  The weather has been pretty nice to be able to go outside and enjoy that sort of thing. 

8.  We enjoyed our ward christmas party the following weekend.  A nice program with various musical talent from our ward.  Santa was there for the children to visit with desserts were served and a fun family dance followed.  A really wonderful christmas party. 

9.  Megan participated in her first piano recital.  It was a great experience.  She was nervous but had her song memorized.  She played a duet with her teacher,  so she wouldn't have to be alone at the piano.  It turned out really good.  She played Joy to the World. 

10.  We had the missionaries and a less active sister over for dinner.

11.  Grandma and Grandpa came over for dinner and to make a gingerbread house with the children.  Spencer joined in the fun.  He really enjoys decorating a gingerbread house it must be from his childhood and all the ones that he has done previously. We once again had a nice visit.  (I almost for got all the family dinners/get togethers that we've had since Grandma/pa are in town).  They are waiting for my signal so they can devour the gingerbread house.  That might not come as soon as they would like, since they are already filling up on sweets.  But I guess that is part of the joy of the season. 

12.  Megan and Evan's school Christmas concert.  Megan had a small speaking part this year that she enjoyed doing.  She did a good job with all the songs and her acting.  Evan was part of the "rock 'n roll snowman" song.  He was singing and strumming his guitar.  I went to the dress rehersal and then to the concert that night.  I was helping the Parent Advisory Council by sitting at the snack program donation table.  Megan was rudolf, she's on the left.

13.  Today was the last day of school!  They got to wear PJ's to school and have parties.  A pretty relaxed day.  I'm looking forward to relaxing at home, visiting with family, hanging out and not having to get Spencer and the children off to work and school each day.  Our schedules just cleared up.....until January 9, 2012 when the routine will start again.

Christmas Eve we'll be ice skating, watching a movie, reading the nativity, eating finger foods/appetizers, singing some carols, playing games and just hanging out.  Our pickle prize will also be awarded to the one who can find the pickle ornament on our tree.  The prize is for the whole family but part of the fun is finding the tricky pickle and being able to open a present before Christmas day.  They will also be sleeping in style in some new PJ's that they can open before bed. 

Merry Christmas!