To all a Merry Christmas

I must say we had a very rockin' musical Christmas and the highlight for Finlay was his "electric guitar"He played it all morning and it even came with us on our afternoon walk. Heather was able to join in with her ukulele and they enjoyed performing renditions of there favorite Christmas songs," Up on the rooftops" and "Jingle Bells".

The highlight for Heather was her musical Beauty and Beast dolls.

Up and coming rock star....
.....and he had to wear the scarf.

The highlight for James was assembly of many toys especially the play tent which he got lost in!

But it was worth it!!

We are lucky at the moment, as Heather and Finlay are still young enough not to let excitement waken them too early. James and I were actually up and dressed before the kids stirred. Eventually at 8am they woke and the first question was had Santa been?

And yes he had been

T'was the night before Christmas and all through the house.......

Christmas eve was a day of catching up, there was cleaning to do, shopping to do, mince pies to make, cookies to decorate and of course mulled wine to make and enjoy.
We had decided to go to a local church for a family service, I had taken the kids to the church for the first time the week before for the nativity play. The kids had enjoyed it so much, Heather was in the middle of the floor giving some ballet dance routine to every hymn and Finlay was close behind her with rhythm in his step. I could see the congregation looking and smiling and as long as they were not in the way, I was happy for then to enjoy the music. They were offered a lamb outfit and an angel outfit and asked to join in on the play.
We met Angeline with her kids, Felix 4 and Ansophie 2 at the family Christmas Eve service at 5pm where we were welcomed with "Oh here comes the dancers!!!!!".And then it was back to our house for mulled wine mince pies and snacks. The children were all excited and played well and then they even tracked Santa on the computer. Once their friends left Heather and Finlay were full of purpose and eager to organize the treats for Santa and Rudolph. Carrot and apple for Rudolf and a gingerbread man and apple juice for Santa!!! Then off to bed in anticipation.

Holiday fun

"Don't eat"...the notice said
"But how can we resist"...they replied.

We have had a lovely Christmas this year. The kids are at that great innocent age when everything is magical.
They had a visit with Santa on more than one occasion. Heather eager to ask him if he would come to her house, Finlay excited to see him but sat as still as could be on his knee.



They have enjoyed seeing large Gingerbread houses in some of the local hotels. The favorite one being in the Banff Springs Hotel and every time we go for a swim , we have to make a visit to the Gingerbread house in the Ball room.

After working seven days before Christmas and James also working, we were looking forward to having some time together with the kids. So we have had plenty time to go skating, swimming skiing and sledding. James and I also enjoyed a good skate ski together at the Nordic centre

Only a real Canadian would at -15

Tiny dancer

Heather's school concert..

This is one for the Grandparents!!

Santa is coming to town

The beginning of Dec and all of a sudden it seems that xmas is just round the corner. The weekend in Canmore was filled with activities to do. There was an artisan craft fair, there was cookie decorating in Main street and there was the festival of trees. Having the two kids myself I had to choose which one was going to be manageable, that would fit into the schedule and that we could all enjoy. Heather had gymnastics in the morning and from there we went straight to the festival of the trees. The kids found some of Santa's elves, had hot chocolate and cookies, did some crafts and had a dance with Santa!!
All in all we were done at 1pm and able to get home for Finlay's nap.





Later that evening there were more festivities. So after dinner we went down town for an hour. Main street was closed and there was carol singing, horse and cart rides, fire pits and hot chocolate and we found Santa sitting in a big tent beside a fire pit. The kids were thrilled to find him and enjoyed the evening despite the cold. Dad arrived just in time to see the kids visit with Santa

Winter fun has just begun

Two weeks ago the temperature dropped to -17 and traveling to school via sled was a novelty for the kids. However Mum was not that impressed...after a mild October we have not had to worry so much about the right combination of snow pants jackets gloves and boots. We had prepared ourselves to some extent with new jackets and were aware of Heather's old ski pants perhaps fitting Finlay and a pair of second hand ski pants that I had picked up last year for Heather, however had not actually dressed them to see if they fitted!!! Thankfully they all worked and all I had to do was update them with proper snow mitts. However I had forgotten what a pain in the ass it was to get both of them ready and bundled and now Finlay is running faster than he was last year I have to chase them both round the living room in various states of dress. So off we ventured to school

So we thought it was bad at -17, well last week we were hit with -34 temps in the morning, school was still running , however we arrived in the truck and made a quick dash into the building. Now I am cursing about what a pain it is to squish them in and out of the car seat with all their gear on, the added task of shoveling a pathway to make it to the truck and having to start the truck 15 mins prior to driving. Adding these onto an already hectic school morning and you could be looking at a dsaster about to happen!!!! But I have held it together!!!! I am glad that this is only lasting for 4 days and then it warms up to -10
We have still managed to get the kids out for atleast 30 mins and they have really enjoyed sledding. It seemed that it was a whole new experience for Finlay by the look of excitement and delight as he "whizzed down the hill.
He has also been on little skis for the first time and seemed to enjoy that following right behind his sister.

Autumn colours

Enjoying the heat of an October summer.

Winter is not far from our minds.

Some of my favorite pictures from our fall.

October has allowed us to enjoy the late Indian summer with afternoon trips to the lake and warm afternoons playing in the park.

To the gradual awareness that winter is just around the corner

Holloween. Yes, No, well maybe

...Jesse...

The costumes were set, Woody for Finlay and Jesse for Heather and how cute they looked as a team. She wore her outfit to school and she wore it to gymnastics, then the day before she stated that she wanted to be a princess. Understandably coming from a girl who runs around playing princesses and princes, calls herself Cinderella or Princess Aurora and will correct you if you call her Heather......even out in public when people in the grocery store say Hi to her and she has even been heard correcting her school teacher!!!!. She will ask night after night for me to tell her a make believe story about Briar Rose...for those that don't know, that is the name the 3 fairies gave to Princess Aurora for her first 16 yrs !!!! The things you learn!!! I could honestly have a degree in princess fairy tales now!!!!
So off we went to make her Princess Aurora, which was fine. Then the night of Halloween she wanted to be a Fairy Princess.......oh then a Fairy Queen.

Fairy princess......

......so Fairy Queen it was.

Finlay, well he was easy, he is male, less decisions to make about head gear and was delighted to be Woody!!!!

Two wheelin'

Isn't it amazing how kids gee each other along.
Heather has been on a bike with training wheels since the summer and has be getting along great with it, beginning off reluctantly and then steadily getting braver and braver. At that point we saw a significant improvement when one of her older friends sped by on her two wheeler and she seemed to strive to be as fast as her. Consequently increasing her confidence and speed and allowing is to cycle to school and back.
Well a short while ago we were looking after her friend who was a boy 18 months older. They played all morning and after lunch we were to take him to school. He had brought his two wheeler and so off we went, Heather on her training wheels, Caden on is two wheeler and Finlay in the stroller. Caden was fast and Heather was trying to keep up. On the way there she was asking me how was it that he was so good and I replied that it was because he had practiced and was older and bigger than her. Meanwhile, thinking to myself that this would be a prime opportunity to suggest a try on her little purple bike and to see that if she could practice then perhaps the next time we look after Caden they could cycle together on two wheels ( you really have to grab at these motivating opportunities as kids can be so fickle).
Well by the time we got back home Finlay was napping in the stroller, so we got out the purple "NX12 turbo booster bike" !!!!! We started up wobbly and holding onto the seat and then gradually within an hour she got it and off she went, proud as punch. And Mum....well she was pretty excited too with calls to dad and Grandparents. It really is so amazing the joy and excitement you get as a parent when your child develops and reaches new milestones and accomplishments
Since then we have had short times practicing with varying degrees of enthusiasm, however time will come when this will become second nature too

Stories for kids

One night while Heather was struggling to settle, I had to create an appealing way for her to go to sleep. She had recently enjoyed a Tinker bell movie, so I told her that every night the fairies come to her room to sprinkle pixie dust on her and that they only arrive once she is asleep. The pixie dust helps her grow big and strong. We listened for the fairies waiting by her window as they waited for her to fall asleep. Then Heather was still not wanting to be left alone and wanted me to stay with her...time was passing and it was getting later and later. So I then told her that the fairies would not come if an adult was in the room and that if I was caught in the room and had pixie dust sprinkled on me then I would get smaller. I had had all my pixie dust as a child and if I had any more then I would get smaller and smaller!!!. This seemed to help her settle on her own and I was able to leave her room.

One Sunday afternoon, Heather was at a friends birthday party and received a balloon to take home. She was as proud as punch of the balloon and held it in her hand all the way home. As we walked up the drive way, a neighbour came to talk and Heather continued up the steps. Suddenly I heard screams of " My Balloon!!!" and turned to see the balloon slowly drift up into the sky and there was now way that i could catch it. So we watched as it floated higher and higher and Heather just cried and cried as she watched her balloon disappear.
I told her that the balloon would find it's way to the land of the lost balloons and then it may meet other balloons that want to find their way back home, but we would have to be patient and way to see what happened. Well, on the Monday when we came home from her dance class I pulled up outside our house and couldn't believe it when I saw another pink balloon floating above the park and behind the houses. Surely it couldn't be Heather's balloon. We jumped out the car and I pointed it out to Heather and she was so excited that her balloon was trying to get back to her. A couple of days later the balloon arrived in our mud room. Balloon and Heather happy to be reunited!!!

Heather's first day at pre school

Heather has been so excited all summer about starting pre school and eventually that day arrived. We had chosen the morning program from 08.30 - 11 am. In the light that my kids are generally early risers and that Heather does tend to get tired in the afternoon, however does not nap. Another reason was that it would leave the remainder of the afternoon free to do activities in the winter when it has eventually warmed up. The afternoon program starts at 12.15 so I would really be having to give her lunch around 11.
So mornings it was.
But ohhh how stressful that has been to get them up and ready and to school for 8.30am . The first week I was having to wake Heather at 7.15 to get ready...this is the girl that spent the summer waking at 6.30am. The first week we were always running to the school doors, with friends and parents walking out the doors smiling with a knowing smile!! However we were feeling good about walking to school despite the fact it was always a rush and we live too close to the school to qualify for the big yellow school bus and it would take longer to drive by the time I bundle everybody in and then bundle everybody out!!!

Heather had stated that she wanted to take the school bus and I had always had my reservations about letting her go and also knew that we lived too close. However I thought it would be a great idea on a Wed for her to get the bus from school to the daycare just once a week. On inquiring we found out that there is a minimum weight restiction and the child has to weigh 40 lbs. We weighed heather knowingly and you guessed it she is only 30 lbs. Not even a few rocks would weigh her down!!!!

Rocks in that backpack

The second week the sticker chart was started with simple tasks that the kids had to complete before leaving for school, get dressed, eat, teeth, hair. This worked a treat for the first few days and then I succumbed to waking them up at 6.45 am with porridge already prepared, snacks done and Mum showered because I had dragged myself out of bed at 6 am. We are still managing to walk/run to school which the kids love and we have even been known to be standing at the classroom door waiting for the teacher, again along with comments of congratulations from other parents!!!! Finlay and I collect Heather at 11 for a 30 min play in the school park for unwinding and then she loves to cycle back home for lunch.
So as you can guess, WE ALL LOVE FRIDAYS!!!! and get to sleep in. Nothing is scheduled for Fridays, we have our own agenda and just enjoy not having to rush quite as much.
Heather is also enjoying ballet on Monday afternoons and gymnastics on Saturday mornings. Finlay and I enjoy music and movement on Monday mornings and we try to take them swimming once a week.
Fall has been a busy time, James is back to work full time after injuring his back and doing roofing again. I have just completed my Neonatal resuscitation course and am trying to study for my trauma nursing course. Which I must say is just not happening these days!!! To try and have time to study along with two kids is quite the challenge. I also have enjoyed a short evening course on photography, which was pleasant and finished in a local bar with a glass of wine!!! Sad thing the course was only two nights!!!