A Little of This, A Little of That...

We had a pretty typical Calgary winter weekend - at least if recent weeks are any indication.

That means that on Saturday, because it was so beautiful out, Adam and I went for a run along the river.

We've come up with a pretty great system for getting some exercise and spending family time:

we put Oliver in the chariot, which he loves, and trade off pushing him.

As for Evan, he rides his bike along side us.  It's really a great family outing and gives us all a bit of what we're looking for.

On Sunday Evan and I headed for COP to try out his new skis.  As we were driving there, it started snowing like you wouldn't believe.  It was about 0 degrees, so pretty wet snow, but snow none the less.  We had a good time: me on my teles, Evan on his new downhill skis.  We took turns being the leader on the way down.   It was fun to watch Evan going down the hill with his tongue out to catch snowflakes.  

By the time we headed home the city was an absolute ice rink.  I was driving the minivan and, let's just say it wasn't made for winter driving.  There was no way it was going up the hill to our house.  In fact, it wouldn't even get up 10th st.  I ended up trudging up Edmonton Trail and that's the best it would do.

Needless to say, the winter tires are going on tomorrow (yeah - I know - they should have gone on a month ago!)

So today, we stayed out of the car and in the snow.  That's the way it should be.  N'est-ce pas?

A la prochaine,

Julie

Let it Snow!

One of the best things about having kids is getting the chance to "be" a kid again.  On Wednesday we had our first snowfall of the year: big, fat, beautiful, sticky flakes fell from the sky and covered everything.  Needless to say, there was no question that we would spend most of the day outside.

Oliver would have been perfectly happy just sitting around eating the snow.  But the bigger kids and I got him involved with building a full-on snow fort.

Later, at Finn's school, we had a snowball fight and built a snow cat taller than 

me.

Ahhh... if every winter day was like that one, I could handle winter all the time.

After grocery shopping Wednesday evening, we stuck out our tongues and caught one lovely, huge snowflake after another on our tongues.  Sweet!

I have to add in one other humorous event from this week.  Whenever the kids argue with Oliver, I tell them "Don't argue with a two-year-old.  You'll never win."  They know this well enough now that they say it to one another if one of them is arguing.

Anyway, the other day Evan and Oliver were in the car with me and Evan started arguing with Oliver about something.  They were going, "Yes it is...No it isn't" at each other and then Oliver came out with, "Don't argue with a two-year-old, Evan."  I laughed so hard I almost needed to pull over.  Oli is quite the comedian.

Happy Hallowe'en

As promised we got out the camera on Hallowe'en night and got some cute pics of the kids to share with all of you. 

We started the evening with a little party for our little friends and their parents.  On the menu were monster fingers, ghost grub and such.  It was a lot of fun, though somewhat crazy with eight kids who were totally excited for Hallowe'en running around the house.

In the pics you'll see Evan, Oliver, Lola, Kaiya, Finn and Theo.  Missing are Abby and Rudy (who was a super cute super hero!).

Cutest moment of the evening?  Oliver waddling along in his lion costume trying to keep up with Evan and Finn, who were literally running from

 house to house.  His little tail wiggled from side to side.

At first Oli didn't seem totally sure about the whole experience, but he quickly caught on.  Soon enough his routine became: "Trick or treat" then he's pick the candy he wanted if he had the chance, say thank you, and before he'd even be down the steps he'd be saying "Mom, let's go to another house".  "Ok Oli, let's go!"

Now we have enough candy in our house to last until the summer, literally.

  We've put a bunch in the freezer to pull out for special occasions.   Got a sugar craving?  Come on over!

xo

Julie

Hallowe'en

I was thinking that perhaps I could post a blog about how I'm not really a blogger. Not that I don't write, I do...often... but obviously that's not the case for my blogging.

So why today? Well, last night I spent some time reading our friends, Mel and Mike's blog. I couldn't believe how much their kids have grown, how much Oscar looks like Mike and what a big sister Lucy is now. I was glad to be able to catch up on that sweet family and I thought that I'd better return the favour, and soon.

A link on their blog page also made me realize how precious life is and how much I want to cherish every moment with my kids. They change so fast and you really never know what life will throw at you. So I'll endeavour to keep this blog more up-to-date, for myself and for any of you who care to tune in from time to time.

OK. There's my reasoning. Now for the details. The fall has been beautiful and busy. I don't think I fully realized how consuming the dayhome would be, but it is! I love the time with the kids, and cherish the time I get to myself as it seems a lot less these days.

I'm always trying to think of activities that will keep them engaged and happy. When the weather is good, as it has been, we spend a lot of time at the playground. We've also gone on dragon quests (you'd be amazed how many dragons hang out at the local dog park), to the zoo most weeks and on tours of the neighbourhood.

When it's not so fine, you'll find us playing "make believe" (their specialty), games, colouring or doing crafts. And in those ways, we've spent the past two months together.

This week is special, of course, with Hallowe'en coming. Today I painted the kids' faces for fun. Tomorrow we're all dressing up and on Friday we're having a Hallowe'en supper party complete with Monster Fingers and Ghost Grub to eat.

Our family is dressing up as the cast of Peter Pan (Evan's favourite movie these days). You know, I've always loved the story, but I'd forgotten how nasty the characters can be. Peter thinks that all women adore him. Wendy can talk of nothing but mothers. Tinkerbell is downright skanky and Captain Hook, well... I guess we always knew he was nasty.

But when Evan watches the movie, he sees nothing but the magic and his eyes light up with it. That's what I remember too and I love that part.

Oliver and Kaiya, the Horses



Our cast is: Evan as Peter Pan, Oliver is a lost boy (poor kid), Julie as Tinkerbell (lucky me) and Adam as Captain Hook. I'll definitely post after the event, complete with pics.


Dragon boys and best friends: Evan and Griffin

Until then love and Hugs to all our friends out there. I'll leave you with a few pics of the kids from today.


xo

Julie

Summer Blog

It's true, this summer seems to be getting only one blog post. It's not that we don't record our adventures, but hey, summer is too short and we already spend too much time in front of the computer. What have we been up to?

1. Lots of ultimate (Kelowna, Ho-Down, Potlatch, Regionals and Nationals - the last one is beginning in two days).


2. Some boating on Koocanusa. Evan even got up briefly but doesn't really want to try it again right now.


3. Tonnes of biking - Evan is cruising all over the place on his two-wheeler.


4. A folkin' good time at the Folk Fest


5. Great camping through southern BC, Washington and Vancouver Island. WE LOVE OUR TENT TRAILER


6. Good times with good people. A highlight was a weekend with Di in Nelson at her beautiful house.


7. Preparations for the Kirk/Choe wedding at the end of the month. Exciting!


8. Oliver's second birthday and our anniversary. Eight years of bliss....ahhh....


9. No - unlike the rest of you we're not moving, living overseas, having a baby or getting marrried!


10. Oh yeah - I decided not to go back to teaching this fall. I'm starting a small (two other kids) dayhome and staying with the kids for now.

Love you all - wish us luck at Nationals.

xo -Julie

Summer and Winter, But Where's the Spring??

We've had the good fortune to experience summer-like weather in California, and winter in Fernie over the past two weeks. But where's the spring? It's kind of peeking its nose around the corner here in Calgary, but it just feels a bit like winter still.

Perhaps we were spoiled with being able to walk out the door in shorts and a t-shirt in Cali, and we've forgotten that this "spring" weather in Calgary is perfectly normal - at least the weather stats tell me that we're right on track.

Let me tell you about California. We got to experience the amazing San Diego Zoo, to which we would return anytime. It was so beautiful: the animals, the plants and the layout were amazing.

That was followed by Legoland, which was nice, but not so fun for anyone outside of the 4-6 year range. Evan had a blast!

The grand finale was Disneyland where we all got to be kids again. It is really set up well to handle the crowds and the rides were accessible to all of us. You really do feel the happiness and joy of childhood there, despite the lines. I guess we knew it would be busy so there was no shock. Evan got to experience the Thunder Mountain roller coaster with his hands up the whole way. He actually cried when we got of because he couldn't go again.

Combined with the Pirates of the Carribean ride, he was in kid-paradise. And yes, we did do the classic Dumbo ride and lots of fun adventures for Oliver. The great thing is that he was allowed on most of the rides. Yes, they trust that parents will hold on to their kids. Imagine that!

In between those outings we were guests of Jane and Lynn at their awesome timeshare which included several pools, a spray park, fishing pond, golf, recreation centres... really we would have had a great time without leaving.

So, that was summer, and then we went almost directly to winter in Fernie. Evan got to try the top of the mountain though we spent most of the day on the Deer and Elk chairs. Let me just say that those tree runs I used to seek out are NOT made for adults on snowboards! Evan, Sarah and Mona, however had a blast.

Our plans that day were changed when we were turned away at the first chairlift with Oliver in the backpack. We'd never tried to take him before, but we knew we'd just be down on the easy runs so we wanted to bring him. No way - apparently it's banned in Canada. Oh well, Adam and I traded off playing with Oliver in the snow while the other person cruised the runs with the kids. Fun times.

OK - on to spring. We had promised Evan a new bike with no training wheels when we got back from California. We bought it the first day back and within a day he was cruising down our street. It's now been just over a week and he can handle the dirt trails at the dog park, the alley, hills... let's just say he's got it. And the true sign that spring has sprung: our first round of disc golf of the year with Joel and Janelle last night. Fun for the whole family.

Sunny Days

The sun is here, at least for now so we got out by the river today for some vitamin D and fun.

Evan has decided to be a skateboarder and then he wants to be a snowboarder. He's going to get some tips from Joel and Uncle Rob, but for now, he's just out practicing and getting better all the time.

Oliver's having fun watching him and practicing running up and down hills.

Yay for Spring.

Still Life and Snow Life

Still Life with Evan


I thought I'd post a few of Evan's recent pictures. He's become obsessed with taking pictures around the house. As a result, I just finished deleting about 30 pics of: our kitchen floor, my dresser, Evan's grilled cheese sandwich before it was eaten, with one bite out, two bites..., Oliver eating cheese, Evan's feet, and more pictures of the kitchen floor.


Cute.





Snow Life


We happily spent three of the past four weeks in Fernie. Because of that, Evan is officially a skier. He can turn, stop, go straight, negotiate other skiers...and best of all, he loves it. His second day at the hill last weekend, when we told him that it was time for lunch he said, "Great, let's eat and then I'm coming right back here to ski!" And that's just what he did until 3:30. Though there were falls, his only tears of the day were when it was time to leave.


Hurray! We've got him hooked on a totally expensive sport!!


Other than skiing, we had a wonderful time just playing in the snow. Oli's favourite snow activity appears to be eating snow which he happily does while waiting around for Evan.


Fun, fun, fun. We're going back next weekend again, I hope.
Oh yeah - watch it when you're tobogganing. I did something to my tailbone about three weeks ago and let's just say that I'm still walking around in pain. The bunny hill is about all I can handle. `A la prochaine.

Outdoor Hockey = Canadian

Hockey, Hockey, Hockey

Sticks in the middle

Hit the post

Give the kid some room

Keep it low

Fact#4 - Outdoor hockey makes you feel Canadian.

Total Blogger

Yep, I blog.

Everyday

I am totally hardcore.

Fact#3 -Skiing French Fries is more fun than Pizza.

Evan 2007

Back in the saddle again

After starting this blog..

I have never posted....

(well, maybe not never)

However, It is true that I rarely post.

So bad in fact that our friends Mike and Mel have changed their link to us as.

"The Topps..mostly Julie"

So bad that I couldn't remember our password today

I simply reset it

But what does one say on one's blog?

..Job..the same..

..Kids..the same..

...Winter...the same..

...House...the same...

...Health..the same..

... Winter Belly .. the same

I decided I will give short facts and some funny pictures.

Here I go

Fact #1 - Peanut butter and bacon taste good with coffee and baileys.

Fact #2 - Beer does taste better when you are thirsty.