December 30, 2009

This morning began with getting everyone up and ready, as well as myself. Grant went off to the gym for a bit and then we all took a trip to the Cross Iron Mills Mall. So many good sales on right now. It is so big there though, and takes us 2 hours just to walk around the whole mall. I had gone with the intention of looking for a new pair of jeans, but shopping for clothing with kids is not an easy feat. I spent the entire time going to places like Chapters (in the kids section), Toys R Us, the playplace, dollar store and Claire's. So obviously my kids were in charge of this trip. It was fun though. At about 1pm we left the mall and went home to grab some lunch. We then got ready to go over to the rec centre to go swimming together. We also had Drayton and Reese come along to swim with us. It was fun, but not so fun going out into the bitter cold of winter with wet hair. Even the water in the pool seemed a touch cold. I couldn't seem to warm up completely while I was there. I should've hung out in the hot tub, but I was with the little kids. After swimming we had to quickly head home, get the kids some dinner and get myself ready for a date. I had made lasagne in the morning, thank heavens. So it was only a matter of throwing it in the oven. Charity came over to babysit for us. Grant rented the movie G-Force for the kids to watch with her before bed.
Grant and I left for our date at 5:30pm. We went to East Side Marios (one of my very favourite places to eat). It was packed, but the food came surprisingly quickly. We got free movie tickets with 0ur meal. It was a very satisfying dinner. The garlic bread and salad that they start you out with, could seriously be it's own meal. It is sooo yummy and filling! We headed over to the theatres after dinner to go watch "Sherlock Holmes". It was CRAZY packed!!! We decided to take the quick line where you pay with your debit card, or we would have missed the movie. So sad though. We have 6 movie passes to that theatre and we didn't get to use them because we went in that line, so we had to pay for it.
I really enjoyed Sherlock Holmes. It was a fun movie. What a great date and what a great husband!!

December 27 + 28, 2009

This is lumping the past 2 days into one. We went to church yesterday morning (the 27th). The kids all got to sing at the front of the chapel. After church we went home to put the turkey in. We were expecting family for dinner. We were celebrating with the family on Grant's side who live here in Alberta. Garth and Sarah came at 3:30pm and brought their puppy Russia with them. What a sweet little dog she was. So cute! Sarah and I took Russia to my brother, Caleb's, house after the kids got to see him. We just thought it would be easier because some of the kids are afraid of dogs and there would be a lot of people in the house. So Caleb and Meg were kind enough to help us out. She was such a sweet dog though. When Sarah and I got back, dinner was almost ready. The Sherlocks had arrived while we were gone. We had a very yummy dinner with Turkey and roasted potatoes, thanks to Grants mad kitchen skills) and some vegetables thanks to Sarah and Garth and some caesar salad thanks to the Sherlocks. They also brought a pumpkin pie for dessert, but we didn't end up getting a chance to eat it. All of the cousins had a fun time being together and us adults had a nice time chatting. Garth and Sarah and their girls slept over, because they live a few hours away. Garth, Sarah, Grant and I played the Quiz game that I had bought Grant for his PS3 and had snacks and chatted until 1:30am.
We woke up in the morning and had a fun day of visiting and playing together. Alex and Josh and their family came over mid morning to come hang out for a bit as well. It was a fun time. Everyone left to go home after lunch. Kaitlyn then went swimming with her friend, and Grant went off to the gym. I am feeling just a wee bit tired after the holidays, but it was a lot of fun this year. Tonight, I think I shall relax and not worry about the state of my house. I think I deserve some down time for myself...

Christmas 2009

The kids never wake us up too early on Christmas day. We were awoken at 7:30am to go start the day. The kids all really enjoyed their gifts. We try to only give them 3 or 4 gifts each year. I took a few pictures of the kids with one of their favourite gifts...
Here is Kaitlyn with her cooking supplies and her Dr. Who tardis piggy bank.

Here is McKenna snuggling up with a book with her new webkinz kitties.

Here is Damian with his new Hamster that he named Fluffy.

Here is Catcher with a part of his Indiana Jones lego set.

Here is Maiya drawing on her easel. It is getting well used.

Here is Tyson with his car garage and car. (He is obsessed with cars).
We had a relaxing christmas day at home, playing games, putting lego together, and our own Christmas dinner. I also did some cleaning up to get ready for our company that would be arriving on the 27th. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas :)

Christmas Eve 2009

So I neglected my blog for a little bit there, so I am just going to do a small recap in pictures of bit of our Christmas. On the 23rd Charity had her annual family adult christmas party. It was full of loads of games, food, gifts , family and fun.
On Christmas Eve day, I went out shopping at the mall by myself for bit in the morning. I just had to get a last minute gift for Grant. I ended up finding myself some great deals on shirts as well (they had some boxing day sales going on early). When I got home, Grant needed to go out and get Damian's christmas present as well as some things for christmas eve. While he was gone, I did the advent calendar activity with the kids, which was the present game. I wrapped a gift with several different wrappings. There was a task to be done to open each layer. So everyone sits in a circle with 2 dice. They start rolling trying to get doubles. Once somebody gets doubles then it's their turn to work on the task. Once the task is completed, whoever finished the task gets to open one layer of the wrapping paper. Then you move onto a new task, until you've unwrapped each layer of the wrapping paper. Whoever opens the last wrapping gets the present. The tasks were things such as, colouring a picture, reading a book, doing a puzzle etc. The kids had fun. The present at the end was "Indiana Jones Lego II" video game for the PS3. They were very excited about it. When Grant got back, he brought McDonalds for dinner the kids worked on some food crafts (like how Tyson made himself comfortable lying on the table to help?) The kids got ready for bed and then they got to have christmas eve treats while watching "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (Grants favourite movie of all time). After that, the kids went to bed and Grant and I put the presents out for the morning...

Monday December 21, 2009

Well.....this morning Catcher woke up with a barking cough. Oh dear....!

So after we got our morning started, I took him over to the clinic hoping to get the same medicine that Tyson got on Saturday. We went in and came out 3 hours later. The clinic beds were full and it was at a stand still for a long time. I considered just going home, but the cough hurt Catcher's throat, so I stayed. Catcher did so well. He sat there for the entire time, not making a bit of a fuss at all. I think I was way more bored than he was. He got the medicine, and it helped out quite a bit. We then went home, having spent the entire morning at the doctors. I had promised Maiya she could go out when I came back to buy Kaitlyn's present (she drew Kaitlyn's name in the draw). So Maiya, McKenna and I went out to look for something for Kaitlyn. While I was gone, Alex (my sis in law) had brought over dinner because she heard about the kids being sick. How nice is that?! I then came home and realized that I had forgotten dish soap and an album. So I went out again, this time Kaitlyn came. She brought a bit of her money with her. She has been so good at saving it, but decided to spend a few dollars on herself for a treat. She decided she wanted to get some lunch for herself at the McDonalds in the Wal Mart. She even offered to buy me lunch as well. She is so thoughtful. She had even said.."Maybe if I don't buy myself McDonalds, then I could buy each of the kids a milkshake". I told her that was a very thoughtful idea, but that she should treat herself for once. I ate with ehr, but paid for my own meal, I didn't want her wasting her money on my lunch. She was so very proud of buying her own meal with her own money. It was nice to sit and eat out together. I got the things I had came for and then we headed back home. Grant had to get ready to leave for work by this point. We ate dinner and then had The Sherlock Family over for a Christmas movie and treats! We watched "Mickey's Christmas Carol". Our advent calendar slip for today was supposed to be "making a snowman" but the snow wasn't good packing snow and the kids didn't feel like playing outside today in the cold. It's too bad, because our friends the Siakaluks had given our family this very cool Snowman kit with a hat, scarf, buttons and nose that would've been fun to do our snowman with. We'll have to see if we get another chance to use this fun gift. So we decided that an indoor movie with popcorn, chips, cookies and hot chocolate was more appealing for our countdown today. It was fun!

Sunday December 20, 2009

This morning showed just how exhausted we were. We all (every single one of us) slept in until 9:30am....which never happens! The kids got ready for church. I unfortunately had to miss it because Tyson needed to stay home. I always love going to church on the Sunday closest to Christmas. There are always lots of musical numbers, and I love hearing them. So Christmassy!!

There is a major event today....KAITLYNS BIRTHDAY!!! She officially turned 11 years old. She was so pleased about this. We had her party earlier with her friends (the spa party) and we had given her our gift early (some Dr. Who books, a comfy blanket and some make up) so we didn't have a gift for her today. I did make some cupcakes while she was at church though. Grant made a delicious dinner (French Onion Soup, Southern Fried Chicken with Milk Gravy and mashed potatoes) and we had invited Meg and Caleb over to enjoy it with us. Kaitlyn got lots of birthday calls from Grandparents and family. She was feeling very special. Maiya came home from church feeling sick and lying around for most of the day in and out of sleep. Oh dear, another sick one :(

Oh, and for our advent calendar today it was.....dart tag! Grant had bought a bunch of nerf guns that come with vests and goggles for the kids. They went downstairs and turned the basement into a good maze. They had barriers set up (using mattresses and gymnastics mats). So fun!

Saturday December 19, 2009

Today was our McVeity family Christmas party for my side of the family. We basically got up this morning and got ready to go. We headed off to Chelsea's house for Christmas Brunch. There was so much good food, I was just so excited. I didn't even know where to start. My Mom outdid herself as usual. She made tons of different kinds of muffins, cinnamon rolls, a huge fruit salad, tons of crepes with her special peach sauce and strawberry sauces..there was ham, scrambled eggs, funeral potatoes, little cereal boxes for the kids, yogurt tubes, bacon, a cereal snack mix, and orange juice. Holy Yummy!!! There were 12 kids and 15 adults at the house. The kids played in the basement together as well as outside toboganning on the back hill. After we ate, it was present time. The adults all do a name draw at thanksgiving to determine who we will buy a gift for (so it doesn't get crazy expensive). I got Daniels name and oddly enough, he got my name. I got him 2 Quiksilver tshirts. He got me a gift certificate to Cineplex. Grant got Meg (he gave her Liquid soaps and body lotions from Bath and Body Works) and my Mom drew Grants name (she got him gift certificates to the theatres as well as popcorn and a really good chef`s knife). Looks like we will be going on a date soon. :)

The kids all got really fun gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. (They always spoil them). The boys got Nerf guns, which they had a little to much fun with, LOL! The girls got barbies and purses and wigs. Tyson got a bunch of cute chunky cars (he gets unbelievably happy with cars. He doesn`t need anything else as long as he has a car). We also played our annual unwrap the present game. There are a bunch of layers of wrappings on the gift. You have to use big work gloves (or oven mitts) and you take turns rolling the dice in a circle. When someone gets doubles it's their turn to try to get the layer of wrapping off. Grant ended up winning the first prize, which was a DVD player. I believe Shand won the second round of the game with a cool crank radio as the prize. It was fun! I gave my Dad a special gift I had been working on throughout the year. I took a bunch of his poetry and added some photos of my own that suited that particular poem and self published the book for him. It was so fun. It was a hardcover book with a dust jacket even. It was such a fun project to do, and I was very happy to give it to him. I took a couple of pictures of it before I gave it to him. We also exchanged fmaily letters at the party. This is also an annual tradition that we do. Each family sums up what has gone on in their lives in the past year, in a letter form and adds some recent pictures of themselves and their family. I keep all of the letters that I receive each year, including one of my own, in a binder in page protectors. This is one easy way for me to put together a family history. I think it will be fun for me and also my kids to look back on and see what things were like when they were younger, and how their cousins looked and what everyone was up to at that point in their lives. Things have changed so much already in the 4 years that we have been doing this.

After some visiting and chatting we headed off to go home. We stopped at the mall on the way home because today's advent calendar slip said "Kids draw names for eachother". They had drawn names this morning for who they would buy for. We do this as a tradition every year. On Christmas Eve they get to open a gift from one of their brothers or sisters. They like that they are able to pick the gift out themselves. Unfortunately, Tyson started coughing a lot at the mall (like a barking cough) and Maiya looked like she had seen better days. They were totally fine when we went to the party, but it all occurred at some point today. We made the mall trip short and took them home to go to sleep. It was a fun day, and a very tiring one. We were all exhausted! It ended up that I took Tyson to our after hours clinic tonight to get him checked out because of his really nasty barking cough and his fever. It turns out he has croup. They gave him a dose of medicine and offered some tips on how to care for children with croup. Poor little guy. The medicine was helpful right away, and he slept well.

Friday December 18, 2009

Today was the final day of school before the Christmas holidays. The kids were very excited. They all had their Christmas parties today and fun games. They got to wear their pj's to school and watch "The Polar Express". They all gave their presents to their teachers. Unfortunately we forgot to open our advent calendar today, but the kids did have fun just relaxing and watching movies, playing games and then after dinner having their cousins (Penners) over. I was babysitting them while Charity and Jesse went out for dinner with friends. They were all really good and had fun together. Grant went out to see "Avatar in 3D" tonight with his friends Tyler, Morgan and Derek. It looked like a really good movie. Very cool visuals!

Thursday December 18, 2009

Today was a fun day for the kids at school. Pretty much no work. Christmas crafts, concert rehearsals etc. I used to love being in school just before Christmas. Always exciting! Kaitlyn got to go on a trip to the movie theatres in the morning. Her grade went to go see "The Princess and the Frog". Lucky!! I did tons of organizing around the house, but particularly in my laundry room. It feels so good to get a room functioning the way you want it to. The advent calendar activity was "christmas concerts" because we really had no time for anything else. As soon as the kids got home from school, we had to get them dinner and ready to leave for their concerts. Grant and Maiya went to go see Catcher, Damian and McKenna in their concert at the elementary school. I took Tyson with me to go see Kaitlyn's concert at the middle school. The 2 concerts overlapped, that's why we seperated. Kaitlyn is in the choir at school, so she was in a bunch of songs with the choir. She did really well. Tyson also did really well at sitting quietly the whole time. Grant said the younger kids concert was fun, and that Maiya also enjoyed it and was well behaved. (The picture of Kaitlyn was from when we were leaving to her concert. I didn't want to lug my huge camera around with Tyson too).

Wednesday December 16, 2009

So this morning since the weather has been much nicer, we decided it was time to rid ourselves of all of our recycling that has been piling up into Mount Everest in our garage. Grant went to the gym this morning, then we loaded our van with a van load full of recycling (it's been a while). As soon as Grant got back, I went out to go Visiting teaching. I always feel good after I've done so. Grant was going to take Maiya and Tyson swimming at the rec centre, but his car keys happened to be sitting in the front seat of my van...so needless to say, they didn't end up going. They did enjoy about 2 hours of playing in the snow and helping Dad clean up the driveway though. Sounds like they had a blast. They've been pretty cooped up in the house with the extreme cold weather, so they were thrilled to breathe real outdoor air :)
When I got home, it was almost time for the kids to get home from school. I made dinner, and Kaitlyn got ready for swimming lessons. It was Maiya's day to open the advent calendar. She chose "Go to the Festival of Lights". So after swimming, we all got ready and went over to Nose Creek Park to walk around and enjoy the Festival of Lights. It was really nice weather for it too. Lots of ice skaters on the frozen pond, and Santa was there (and Catcher wouldn't go anywhere near him, he found him scary). Everyone nodded off fairly fast for bed tonight, as they were all so tired from the days activities. Kaitlyn also had a school dance today, so I believe she was first to fall asleep. Grant is grocery shopping at the moment. Poor guy, he hasn't really stopped for a breather today. What a trooper!

Tuesday December 15, 2009

Todays temperatures were much more bearable. The weather is looking up for the week, thank heavens!!! I am really not a person who loves living in the cold. Today was Tyson's day to open the advent calendar. He chose "Red and Green day". So we tried to add as much red and green as we could to our day. I tried to find some christmas coloured rice krispies for breakfast, but couldn't find any. The kids wore red or green shirts to school today. I sent green koolaid jammers, strawberry tubes, strawberry nutri grain bars, chocolate chip cookies with red and green m&m's on them, and chicken wings for their red and green lunch. For dinner we had spaghetti, caesar salad, red juice and cherry jello schlopp (jello and whipped cream mixed together) for dessert. Grant worked during the day today, and should be home soon. Damian will be going to cubs tonight. Not much to say today....

Monday December 14, 2009

This morning we all slept in again, so I pretty much ripped the kids out of their sleep to speedily get ready for school. We are at the end of our groceries, so they had pretty interesting lunches made. They wolfed down their breakfast, and grabbed their stuff to go.I drove them to school, because they would have been extraordinarily late (as well as the fact that it was -30 degrees outside, yuck!). Grant was off to the gym again today, and I caught up on some laundry and household cleaning. I went out in the afternoon to get Kaitlyn the rest of her birthday gift. We gave her half on her party day (A Dr. Who book, she loves Dr. Who...and a cozy blanket that Grant bought at Chapters. So comfy!!). She had wanted make up for her birthday. I told her that she is allowed to wear make up if she wants to, but that it had to be tasteful. (I really don't want to see my daughter going to school looking like KISS, lol) She is only allowed to wear mascara and lipstick (though we opted for a more natural looking coloured gloss, it suits her). We got her some mascara, lip gloss, a small make up bag, a good razor and shaving gel (her other one wasn't great). She is really liking this "growing up" thing. I must say that I am having fun with it too. It was Kaitlyn's day to open the advent calendar. Today it was "make cookies and deliver to neighbours". So we made some chocolate chip cookies with red and green m&m's in the middle and delivered them to a few neighbours. The kids were excited to do this. I did not have to make dinner tonight because my friend Carrie brought over a bunch of leftovers from our meal at her house last night. So we had beef on a bun again, and it was so yummy!! Have I ever mentioned that I don't love cooking?? After dinner I had to bundle all of the kids up to head out to the rec centre for Kaitlyn's swimming lessons. Not something I wanted to do with the temperatures like they were today, but we went. Kaitlyn is doing well, and the kids played on the ramp in the hallway with their cars again. We got to go have a peek at the new gymnastics area that they are building. It should be ready for Damian's next session of gymnastics in January. I will be so happy for more viewing space for the parents to sit. The old gymnastics building had about 6 seats, and people were always walking past you bumping your knees. So this one will be awesome!!! We came home, and there was a gift on our doorstep. It was from a friend for us for christmas! What a nice surprise, the kids were so excited!! I can't believe how close Christmas is, and how close the christmas break is for the kids. What an exciting and crazy time of year!!!

Sunday December 13, 2009

This morning we woke up to another gorgeous -30 degrees day. It was soooo cold. What we didn't realize also, is that somehow our thermostat had got turned down. So when I woke up, the house was like a fridge. It was down close to the 10 spot. We had all slept in until 9am. I think it was because everyone was so cold that all they wanted to do was stay underneath the blankets. So cold. I got up and got all of the kids ready for church. It was a great day at church (except that Tyson decided he didn't want to stay in nursery, and needed his Mommy. so I stayed in there with him for the first half). After church we went home and made some cookies to bring to Carrie's house. She invited our family over for dinner, along with the Kyles and the Siakaluks. It was yummy beef on a bun, and salad. So good! I brought some trifle and snickerdoodles. It was a fun time. Tons of kids. There were 15 kids in all there. As soon as we got home, Caleb and Meg came over to hang out at our house. They literally pulled up just as we were pulling in the driveway. Grant and Caleb played video games together, and Meg played with my hair doing some curls. After that we played a game. What a nice, fun day!

Oh, and it was McKenna's turn to open the advent calendar, and she chose "Write a letter to Seth". Seth is on a mission right now, so we are sending him a christmas card with some letters from the kids.

Saturday December 11, 2009

This morning it was Damian's turn to open the advent calendar. He picked "Candy Cane Ice Cream for breakfast". They were thrilled about that. I just love candy cane ice cream. It is soooo good!!! ....and what kid wouldn't want ice cream for breakfast?!
After we all got ready we headed off on a spontaneous trip to the mall. I hadn't intended on going because Saturday's at the mall are not my favourite, especially around christmas, but Kaitlyn had a Claire's gift card that she got from a friend at her party that she didn't get a chance to use yet. So she used it today. She bought body glitter, lip glosses and some sour candy spray (yuck, I don't like sour).
I got a couple of new shirts, a cardigan and a necklace. When we got home, Grant had to go to work. The kids and I straightened up the house and then they all watched "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" together. Well, not much else to say today really.....short and sweet! Oh, and it's minus bazillion outside...so cold!! (-30 really) Why do I live in Alberta again??

Friday December 11, 2009

Today was busy right from the word go. I woke up and had to rush around getting breakfast and kids ready for school etc. Then jumping in for a quick shower and being ready for my RS presidency meeting this morning. Then I babysat Gabrielle and Isaac for Alex. Grant was at the gym this morning and then had to stop at the mall for some things. It was Catcher's day to open the advent calendar today. The slip said "Go swimming together". So as soon as the kids got home from school (they have half days on Fridays), Grant took them to the rec centre to go swimming. They loved it! I finished writing the script for our christmas murder mystery party we had tonight, and then had to go to the store to get a few last minute items for the party. When I got back, the kids had been fed, and were in their rooms. They didn't fall asleep right away because they always like to sneak out and see what's going on. So we had our murder mystery party tonight, and it was a blast. It was called "Slay Ride". Everyone did such a great job with their costumes, they were such great sports. This was a christmas murder mystery that I wrote. It was so much fun :) I was Dolly. I will introduce you to the characters....

Suspect #1 - Mrs. Clause

Suspect #2 Spanky the Elf

Suspect #3 Candy Cane

Suspect #4 Father Frances

Suspect#5 Officer Jim

Suspect #6 Zoe Black (The Goth Teenager)

Suspect #7 Zack Black (Zoe's Hippie Dad)

Suspect #8 Dolly (The Toy Gone Wrong)
)

Thursday Dec. 10, 2009

This morning was a morning full of cleaning. My house falls apart way too quickly for my liking. I actually don't mind cleaning at all, and infact enjoy it AS LONG AS nobody is messing it up the second after I've cleaned it. As long as I am not neverending cleaning. I also find I clean really well when I am angry. It's like I have so much energy rising that I need to get it all out, and cleaning seems to be an effective and productive way. I was not angry this morning at all, but was just thinking about it, LOL! Grant went to work during the day today. I am starting to hate my telephone (well actually I already do). I love talking to people, but never enjoy the phone. I would rather speak in person, face to face or through emails. It felt like my phone didn't stop ringing today. I hope I don't give anyone the wrong impression...you are allowed to phone me, lol. It is not my preferred mode of communication though.
I spent the afternoon helping Charity put together her photo collage for our family letters. The longest part is always narrowing the pictures down to the ones you want to put on there. Maiya had fun playing with Presley and Elle.
Kaitlyn stayed for her final choir practice before the christmas concert today. She really enjoys being in the choir. After school we did the advent calendar. Maiya had chosen a game yesterday that we did not get to do, so we did it today. I did a present hunt. It was one group gift. I would give them clues and they would go all over the house looking for this gift. They finally found it (I had hidden it under Maiya's mattress. Maiya got to open it. It was a season of the Flintstones on DVD. I think I just had to get it for them because I always loved Flintsones while growing up, and wanted to see if they would like it too. They watched a few episodes, and it brought back fond memories. We would watch it as kids every lunch hour while we were eating our lunch and then go back to school. It was always something to look forward to.

Wednesday Dec. 9, 2009

Today Grant went to the gym again. I am inspired by his dedication. It's motivating to see him going almost everyday. Maiya chose the slip today for the advent calendar, but as soon as the kids got home from school, it was go, go, go..so we didn't have time to do our activity today. It was supposed to be "play a christmas game together". So we missed it for today, and will have to do it tomorrow.
After Catcher went to school, Grant, Maiya, Tyson and I went to the mall. I needed to shop for Grant for christmas. We split up, he took Tyson and I took Maiya. I went around looking for gifts for him, as well as my brother Daniel (I got his name in the name draw). I`m not saying what I got in case he ever reads this blog. It was a nice time shopping. Then we had to get home in time for the kids coming home from school. Grant ordered pizza for dinner tonight. Then it was time to get ready to take the kids out. I had to drop off McKenna at activity days first, and then dropped off Damian at gymnastics and then hop on over to the rec centre to drop off Kaitlyn at swimming lessons. McKenna made and delivered cookies to people for her activity. This was Damian`s last class of gymnastics, and he passed. So he will start level 3 in January. Kaitlyn got her mid term report for swimming lessons and is doing well. She just needs more work on her front crawl. Later when we got home, the kids went to bed and Grant and I watched "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". I think it is one of my favourite movies out of the series so far. I love it! I also worked on my family christmas letter. Every year, I ask my family to write a letter about what has happened in their lives in the past year, and add a page with recent photos,
and then we all get one at my Mom's christmas party. We have been doing this for about 4 years now...and I LOVE it. It is cool to look back on those letters and pictures (I keep them in page protectors in a binder) and to see how much things have already changed in each of our lives. I think it will be an awesome thing for the kids to look back on especially. To see what their cousins looked like back then and themselves, and to read about what they did that year. It's our own easy way of pulling together some sort of family history. I look forward to it every year.

Tuesday December 8 , 2009

So I've started a goal a few days ago of once and for all getting fit and being healthier overall. We shall see how this goes. I feel driven and am hoping that I can keep myself from "cheating". I think I'm going to have to keep track with a progress chart, because I seem to do really well with charts, and lists etc. I really want to be a success story, so I am going to work very hard on this goal.

This morning it was Tyson's turn to open the advent calendar. He chose "decorating sugar cookies". I had a margarine container full of sugar cookies for the kids to decorate after school, but unfortunately I had them on top of the fridge and then knocked them off by accident. The container went crashing to the floor along with all of those yummy cookies, crumbling into a thousand pieces. Alex happened to be here dropping off Kaitlyn at the time, and offered to bring some of hers over for them to decorate. So...thanks to Alex, we were able to do our advent calendar activity of the day. Grant went to the gym again today, I really need to follow suit. It seems like I spent a lot of time on the phone today. My phone was ringing the whole day...
Damian had cubs tonight, so I took him there. I am now just waiting for Charity to bring him home and then her and I are going to watch a movie called "Julie and Julia". Should be fun!

Monday December 7, 2009

So it was back to school today. The kids had to walk to school in very cold -26 temps this morning. They are serious troopers. I did not really leave the house today again. It's just too cold. It was Kaitlyn's day to open the advent calendar. Today's slip was to make paper snowflakes for our front window. They did really well. It looks festive! Grant went to the gym again today (I think I need to follow his example sometime soon). Chelsea and her kids happened to be a the Cross Iron Mills mall today, and stopped over when the kids were done school. They stayed for dinner, and a visit. Then we had to get ready to take Kaitlyn to swimming lessons. That was definitely something I did NOT want to do tonight. It was -22, Grant was at work and so I had to bring all of the kids to the rec centre and wait with them all while she had her lessons. It didn't go as badly as I imagined. It was cold, but not windy. We went to check out the new side that just opened at the rec centre. It was pretty dead in that hallway and it sloped downwards, so my kids had a fantastic time racing cars down it. It kept them busy for most of the time, and then we went in to watch Kaitlyn. She is doing really well. She surpassed all of my swimming skills a long time ago. When we got home, we had quite the surprise waiting for us. On our coffee table, there was a christmas tin full of hershey's kisses and candy canes. The kids were excited, and I thought it was really nice of someone. There was no tag on it, so it unnerved me a little to think that someone was in my house when I was gone, LOL! We had not locked the door when we left. The kids ate a few of the treats, and then made their snowflakes. I am wishing for warmer weather, but at the same time...it has kind of kept me away from any type of shopping because I don't want to go out. Bittersweet!