Christmas Cards

Edited to Add: Do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

For the last couple of years we have been using Shutterfly for our Christmas cards. Although one year I wasn't really on the ball so it ended up being a Happy New Year card rather then a Christmas card. I really like the Shutterfly cards becuase the are so unique. Rather then one picture on top and a greeting below, like most photo companies do, Shutterfly has so many designs that you can have a collage of photos. I love that people get to see lots of things we have been upto rather then just one photo. Last year I include a Halloween picture of the boys and a picture of mom and I doing our triathalon. There designs are also so beautiful. They use beautiful colors and beautiful sayings. Here are some of my favourites from this year.

If you are looking for a creative and beautiful Christmas card this year, I would highly recommend Shutterfly

TIll Tomorrow

Jenn

A New Calgary Find

For the last couple of months we have been picking up my dad at the airport, as he is working a lot out of town. Nathan is loving it because his favourite thing lately is airplanes. When we drive there sometimes it is hard to get in the left turn lane so I have to drive through the lights and turn around at the next intersection. I've realized though that the next intersection is a viewing area to watch airplanes land. There is a nice parking lot with picnic tables where we can sit and watch planes land and take off. It's called the Edward H LaBorde Viewing area. I've looked on the internet and there is not a lot of information about it. But here is a map of where it is.




It is a great spot to watch airplanes if you and your kids enjoy them.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Pumpkin Carving

I can tell the boys are getting older. For the last couple of years we have just gotten one pumpkin and carved it. Neither of the boys want to get their hands dirty, and they get bored of the pumpkin carving pretty quickly. But this year the boys are getting older and we got pumpkins for all of us. They still didn't want to get their hands dirty (a la Darryl) but they had a lot of fun colouring the pumpkins. Here are our works of art.

Darryl's work of art. He takes pumpkin carving to a new level

All of the pumpkins
The shirtless boys and the pumpkins.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Monthly Newsletter: 61 months

Dear Lucas,

This week you had your 62 monthly birthday. Which is 5 and 2 months. You are becoming more and more responsible. I really feel like are getting older. I'll leave you to play in the back yard for a bit. Or if I ask you to put on your shoes, I know for sure you'll do it. Or help me clear the table, you are becoming very responsible.


We had a crappy month as we went back to Ontario for Uncle Ian's funeral. I didn't know how you would react to it. At first I wasn't really sure you understood what was happening, but one night we were having one of our conversations and I knew you did. I said "tomorrow we are going on an airplane" You kicked your feet with excitement. I said "You will have to be good though, as we are going to be around all of daddy's family". You said " Everyone, but Uncle Ian" and I said yeah "everyone but Uncle Ian". I've got to say you were so good throughout the weekend. You seem to have a good ability to access a situation and know how to act. You have enough wisdom at 5 to look at a situation and follow the lead of most people.

School continues to go really well for you. I had a interview with your teacher and she hit the nail on the head about you. She said, you are always taking everything in, always learning. She gave an example of you and sorting. There are a whole bunch of small animals that you are suppose to sort. So you "super" sorted them. You didn't just sort the turtles into one group, but sorted all the different kind of turtles. Turtles, leather-back sea turtles, tortoises etc. Glad to see that all the zoo visits and books you were taking in all the information.



You are also in swimming lessons this fall. It is also going really well. You can dive down to the bottom of the pool. And although I won't let you swim in the big pool by yourself yet you probably could. You love swimming, when swimming lessons are done. You swim to the edge of the pool till you have to get out. Just like school, you are a really good student in all situations.

You and Nathan are continuing to play together more. It is so nice for you to have a brother to play with. You guys tonight made up this game called "turrets" which were like a kind of bomb that you guys would run around and destroy. You also played a rousing match of Hungry Hippos together. You love to make him laugh. Which makes you laugh, which makes him laugh and it continues on and on.


Grammie came since the last newsletter too. You were so thrilled about that visit. You followed her around like you were her shadow. Of course she ate it up. She would sit in your room in the evenings and Daddy would read both of you James and the Giant peach. She would play with you and pull the wagon when walking you to school. You would ask for her to come up for extra hugs after we left your room. You really enjoyed her company and took to her quickly.


Lucas you are a really good kid. I'm so proud to call you my son (Keep that up =)

love mommy

Thanksgiving/Nathan's 2 1/2 Birthday Party

This weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving. Oma and Opa were here and Auntie Karen and our best friends. Darryl made a delicious turkey (as usual) and I made a couple of delicious pies. It was a great meal with great people, my favorite kind of day.



Nathan was also excited for the party. It's been hard for Nathan because Darryl, Lucas and myself have our birthdays close together and Nathan's is 6 months before and after. He forgets about his birthday and really wants to have his birthday. So when he heard we were having a party and lots of people over he thought it was for his birthday. Well I couldn't insist that it wasn't his birthday when it didn't hurt to put a candle in the pies and sing Happy Birthday to him. So we did and he loved it. Even when we modified the words to "Happy Half Birthday To You".


It was a great end to a fun weekend.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Voting Day

Today I was a super proud Calgarian. I went to the polling station and the lines were so long. In some polling stations they have run out of ballots. Everyone is voting! It's great, democracy at it's finest.

For those of you not from Calgary, it is election day today. There is a 3 way tie between 3 candidates. One is someone with lots of experience, but that experience is also hindering him, one is a professor who is a great debater but doesn't have a lot of political experience and the last is a lady who was a broadcaster in Calgary for a long time, but also doesn't have the experience to be mayor. So with 3 good candidates everyone is going out to have there say, and I think it's great.

There is a big part of me who wants to stay up and find out, but we may not know until tomorrow. Good job Calgarians. I'm so glad we live in a country where every citizen has a say.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Connected

As Lucas grows up he spends more and more time away from me. Time is spent at school and with friends. Even tonight, we had a couple of hours together and he wanted to go and see his friends. So the times we have together mean even more now. Because quantity is moving towards quality. Especially the times when we get to talk without other distractions. We have started up our bedtime conversations again. We tell stories and talk about favorite things and least favorite things. It's nice because I feel like we are connecting again. I feel like I'm getting to know more about what he does in the day. Journals and workbooks and centers. Spider man games and post offices and coloring. You are a good kid and I'm happy we are connecting more.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Nathan's Montly Newsletter

Dear Nathan,

This week you turned two and a half. In another two and a half years you will be in school like Lucas is and will have grown up so quickly. You are so looking forward to school. I think having a big brother makes you look forward to life so much. For the moment I am really enjoying our "mornings" together. When Lucas is in school we go out and do things and are best buddies. I am enjoying that we get to spend this time together.



It was a hard month for all of us. We flew home for Uncle Ian's funeral and although you were quite good for most of it, but it was hard for you too. There were times that I was frustrated that you were not more quiet or less rowdy. But at the same time I have to remember you are only two years old. I do think your smile helped people.



As I was looking through pictures from the last month of you I have trouble finding any without Lucas. You and Lucas continue to be really good friends. Tonight you and he played for almost 2 hours. It's nice that you can talk more and communicate and have fun with Lucas. Alot of your play and imagining is beyond what most 2 year old plays, bad guys and "lightsabers" and shoot em up.



You have some of the greatest body language. I'm sure it's because you took longer to talk and so you needed to learn how communicate in other ways. But your facial expressions and your body expressions are priceless. If you don't get something you want, you can see your shoulders shrink and your head go down. Or if are thinking about a question you look around with your eyes.
Well best buddy, happy 2 and a half year old birthday.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Turkey Soup

When Darryl's mom was here Darryl made her his famous turkey dinner. Although we invited lots of people we still had left over turkey. So I was looking for a good recipie that I could use up some of the turkey. Here is my favorite: Creamy Corn and Turkey Soup

Enjoy!

Jenn

Dr. Faul

Our family Dr. here in Calgary is a very nice man. We were lucky that when I got pregnant with Lucas there was a family Dr. close that was taking maternity patients. He has always been a quiet talker so you have to listen carefully when he talks, but we really like him. He is very concerned not only about your physical health but also about your mental health. Today when I took him for Nathan's 2.5 year appointment, we spent quite a bit of time talking about parenting. He looked him over physically and checked his height and weight and speech. But while he was doing this we had some interesting conversation about parenting. He said "I was doing a great job". He talked about how parents make the world for there kids. Some parents make the world a scary place or a fun place, he thought I made the place a curious one for my kids. A place to learn. Which I do try to do. It's interesting because we had a oral interview with Lucas's teacher and she said something very similar. That Lucas loved to learn and was constantly taking everything in.

Dr. Faul and I also talked about how parents play different roles for their kids. Sometimes they have to be the parent and nurture the kids. Other times they need to be the teacher and put their foot down. Sometimes they need to be a mentor and set good examples for their children. Sometimes I think I wear lots of different hats to satisfy my needs, but I think its satisfies the kids needs too. It sets example for them to be part of the world. Sometimes I feel guilty when I go to work, or go out on a date night or a girls night out, but it's so good to set examples for your kids on how to act and treat other people. It's interesting because all the things he says are so true and things I do all the time, but when someone puts them into words it is so insightful.

It's amazing how a 10 minute conversation can make me think about parenting for days and days to come.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Lucas's First Black Eye

This weekend we were in the backyard playing catch with Lucas and our baseball gloves. A ball came at Lucas that glanced the side of his eye. It gave him quite the black eye. Here it is at it's worst. It's looking more purple now but not so swollen.

And of course today was picture day!!

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Fall Colour

In Calgary we have one weekend of fall. That was two weekends ago. Last weekend it was so hot we were outside in shorts. But really all of the beautiful colors were out two weekends ago. Here are a couple of shots from our back yard and the mountains.




We have a beautiful maple tree in our back yard that turns a lovely color of red.

In the mountains all the trees turn quite yellow. So we don't have the variety that we use to see in Ontario, but for that one week we have some beautiful colors here in Alberta.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn