Good Ole Fashioned Fun

Have you ever heard yourself say something, and wonder WHO just said that!?!?! Today I said something along the lines of "I'll play one game of Candyland, and then I want to go do dishes". Huh? I WANT to do dishes! Nope, that was not me.

Today we had a really laid back day with all three kids at home, Mikayla was home sick, so it felt like a "stay in jammies" kind of day. We did all sorts of playing, AND I even got some dishes done! Today was a no-Wii day, which also includes all electronics (Wii, DS, computer, iPad) except TV. We are not quite brave enough to limit the TV to those three days as well, sometimes I NEED the quiet time a movie will give me. But it sure is nice to have good ole fashioned fun with the kids. Today it was mostly Lego with some painting thrown in, and lots of running and screaming.

Sometimes painting is not all fun and games

He's so handsome!

Painting a family portrait! If she looks green to you it's not from being sick, it's face paint that didn't come off well

Happy Monday to you!

Happy Blog-iversary!

Well, I was just looking back and it looks as though I've been doing this thing called blogging for a year now! Who would have thought that I would actually keep it up this long. I guess it's easier to keep up with something when you enjoy it so much. Blogging combines two of my favourite things: my kids antics and taking pictures! How can you go wrong with that combination. Over the past year I have done 55 blog posts, I suppose that would be an average of one a week, eh? I would say my top 5 favourite (in no particular order) are:
1. Halloween
2. Fall Photos
3. Happy 9th Anniversary
4. Gavin's and Mikayla's Birthday Questionnaires
5. All 3 birth stories: Mikayla, Gavin, Levi

Okay, that might actually be more than 5, but who's counting?

Here's hoping I can keep it up for another year and beyond! It's so much fun to be able to look back on these memories we have created together, and to have this outlet to archive them. I love being able to show the pictures to the kids and to recall the stories with them. Of course the added bonus of keeping our friends and family up to date with our happenings is just icing on the cake.
Oh yeah, and speaking of cake. It's been great to be able to get together a collection of the cakes I have been creating too. Maybe blogging actually combines three of my favourite things!

New Years Resolution

Yay for the New Year, and making big plans, resolutions and such. It's only January 15th, and I can officially say I've checked my New Years Resolution off the list already! What's my secret you ask? Set the bar low, it's much easier to reach. My resolution for 2013 was to learn to ski. As unbelievable as it sounds, I have lived in this fair city nearly my whole life, just a hop-skip-and-a-jump to the beautiful Rockies, and have never taken advantage of them (in the winter at least). So this year I made it my goal to get on a pair of skis for the first time ever, and... goal met! Now, you'll notice that this year the goal was just to get onto the skis, next year maybe I can aim for something daring like starting a run from the top of a mountain.

I had a blast, even if only on the kiddie slopes!!! Seriously, why didn't I do this 25 years ago? I decided to take a private lesson, which was a great idea, my instructor was really nice, and because it was just her and me she lead the lesson at my pace. It sure made me feel comfortable and relaxed right from the get go.

We also put Mikayla and Gavin into lessons this year. They both did really well, both were in a beginner level, but at different age levels of course. Gavin's group stayed on the really slow hill most of the week, so he was getting a little frustrated that he wasn't getting the speed he craves! But after my lesson the 3 of us went on the slightly faster kiddie slopes which gave him the adrenaline rush he was missing.

See the big smile! Yep, I was having fun.

Check out that form!!!

Look at my happy skier boy

They'll be skiing circles around me in no time!

Christmas Revisited

Okay, time to take a little trip down memory lane to Christmas-past. Well, it's only a couple weeks back, but since I've been too busy to get anything documented it's time to take a quick look back.
This was a great Christmas, isn't every Christmas great? I seriously love the season. Ours consisted of...
Getting a tree, decorating said tree, visiting the jolly old man in red, going to the zoo lights with friends, pre-school concerts, and baking gingerbread men.

Of course there was the traditional Christmas Danish baking, a three-day affair that everyone gets involved in.

Christmas Day itself was mass hysteria as you may have guessed... Santa apparently made a stop here the night before and unloaded his entire cargo into our living room (or so it seems). The kids, of course, had a blast ripping into their gifts and trying a few of them out starting at 7:30am. This was followed by brunch at home, a quick trip to my parent's place for more gift opening, and our final stop of the day to Auntie Jackie and Uncle Kenny's for dinner (and dare I say even more gifts!)

All-in-all a fantastic Christmas was had by our little family. Up next, New Years! Oh wait, that was 5 days ago. Okay, I'll work on getting that post out soon.