Weather

Today in Calgary we were the second coldest place on earth, only second two Antartica. That's right it was cold here then Siberia and the Artic and Alaska and all those all places you think of when you think of really cold places. It all started a week ago when the snow and cold hit with a vengeance. Outside we have about 5 feet of snow. When I woke up this morning, with the wind chill it was -40. Luckily on Thursday it will be -4, I can't remember the last time I was excited about -4. It's been at least a year =)

So we have been playing inside a lot. Tonight we were all coloring on the floor, later we did some karate moves (or I watched the boys do there karate moves). We also made more cards and I made a big batch of my favorite soup. We did go outside to go to swimming lessons, but we were well bundled. And spent a lot of time in the hot tub at the pool too.

One of the worst parts of the horrible weather and snow is the driving. I have spent a lot of time in my vanigan over the last week. It sucks because it takes up time for other fun stuff I usually do, like exercising and playing with the kids. Kudos to all of those who job it is to clear the roads. Once the snow finally stopped I noticed a real difference in the ice on the roads.

So that's the big news over here for the last week..... although I wish it wasn't....

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Party Weekend

What a really fun weekend we had. On Saturday we went to my cousins wedding. We took the boys with us and it was cool to see there excitement. They saw a princess, went shopping downtown and danced their hearts out. I couldn't believe how much they danced. And they were so good at it. Kudos to Lesley for all their great dance moves. We went with Auntie Karen too, who is so so fun. Sometimes I forget how fun she is, but she makes those boys laugh with no props just sitting at a table.




It was great to see my uncle as a grandparent too. The couple who got married had a little 2 year old, who is my uncle's grandaughter.



Today we had my work kids Christmas party. It was so fun for Nathan. He had a sword balloon made and sat on Santa's lap.



Then this evening we had my mom's birthday dinner. I made lasagna and it was delicious and mom brought a fantastic bottle of red wine from 2003. Then I made a fantastic birthday cake. The kind of cake that is so good, you don't need icing for it. And it was super easy. Here's the recipe:
1 cake mix
1 pudding mix (instant)
1 cup of apple sauce or oil
1 cup of sour cream
4 eggs
1/2 cup of warm water
2 cups of chocolate chips

Mix all of it together and bake at 350 for 50-55min.

See, super easy and I made it fairly healthy (as healthy as cake can be) with fat free sour cream and apple sauce rather then oil.
Love Lucas's face in this one. Getting ready to blow out the candles. Just had to post it.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Abc pooh pooh

Nathan's Newest Video. Injecting his favorite funny word into a song.



Jenn

November Newsletter

Hi Boys,

This month is another combined newsletter. I wonder how you will feel about these newsletter when you are grown? I hope you are able to look back and read these and see how life was and see how much I love you. This month I didn't get a letter done for Nathan so I'm going to combine them. You spend a lot of time together. You are really really good friends. The talking and the playing happens all the time. Which in turn means there is also some fighting and not getting along. But most of the time you two are the best of friends.




Nathan you are talking a lot. Sometimes you'll repeat a word over and over. Sometimes you'll repeat every phrase I say. You've started to say funny words to, like "actually". Just like Lucas does. You are still having trouble with certain constanants, but most of your speech has come a long way.


Your favourite thing lately has been airplanes. We have an airplane book that we read most nice. You love to pick up Pop at the airport and we go and watch the airplanes come in. You talk every day about going on an airplanes. Whether it's to go see Aunt Lori or Grammie or go with Auntie Karen or Grandma. You are really wanting to go on an airplane. Next year baby... next year



As for you Lucas, things are continuing on quite hunky dory. You are still loving school. It is usually your favourite part of the day. You love Mrs. McKenna, your teacher. We have been talking lots about bullying and being nice to people. Luckily you are a really nice kid in the first place so we don't have to talk about it very much.



You have been more willing to try new things. Tomorrow you are going skating, which you were not interested in last winter. And you want to try skiing this winter. You have also become more willing to eat different foods. The other day we had stomput and you ate so fast, when last time we had it you didn't like it.


You love playing with Lego. Which thrills Darryl to no end. Most days on the weekend, when Nathan goes for his nap you want to go downstairs and play Lego. You love to build ships and play with them. You are also really enjoying spending time with your friends. We organize more play dates with them and you love playing with Matt and Shaun still too.



The other night, Nathan was sick, so to help us both sleep I brought him into bed with me. Later on in the evening Lucas you woke up with a bad dream. You were both in bed with me and I was the meat in your boy sandwich. It was so peaceful to hear you both breathing. I slept great.


Well boys, may the fun continue into next month. Christmas is coming and I'm looking forward to seeing all of the joy and excitement on your face for the season.

love you both

love mommy

The Weekend..... So Far

It's so nice to have four days off. Especially when my sister comes for the weekend. We are also dog sitting so Emma is so happy. Both of the dogs have been outside with slobbery ears. It's funny to watch dogs play. Emma is the female smaller dog, but because we are at her house and she is older, she is still the dominant dog. She easily get Tails on his back. The other interesting part about watching them play is that they always try to get each others ears. Must be a sensitive part on dogs.

The other fun part so far is that my sister is here. My sister does come home fairly often, but this time I get her all to myself. Today, by her request, we went to Banff. It was really fun. I haven't been to Banff is quite a while. They have lots of unique shops there. We also went to Old Spagetti Factory for lunch which is delicious and such a good deal. We also went and walked up tunnel mountain.



Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends too!

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Tigger

This morning we had to put one of our cats, Tigger down. She has lost a lot of weight over the last couple of months and has had diarrhea for the last two weeks. They figure she has colon cancer and won't take anything orally to help it. So after lots of crying and talking we decide it was best for her to go up to kitty heaven.

She was a great cat, who would sleep between our pillows every night.


She loved Darryl to no end. She would come when he called her.


She purred and meowed alot.


She was also the boss of the house.


If all the animals were hungry she would be the one to eat first.


She was unique because of her orange coloring


She loved to eat, for most of her life she was a big cat.


She will be missed not only by her animal family but by her people family and all the people who loved her.

Rest in peace Tigger.

Jenn

Book Review: The Help

I just finished a fantastic book. It's been a while since I've read a book that is so good I stay up late at night reading it. Where I wonder if I should watch the latest TV show or read the book.

Help is the story of 3 women in Mississippi, in the in 60's. One white women and two black maids "The Help". Each chapter is written from one of the women point of view. I really like have multiple narrators in a story. In the chapters that are narrated by the black women when they speak it is written just like you can imagine they would say it 'shoo nuff' and they use the word 'law' instead of damn.

The story line has a lot to do with civil rights and how life was for the black women working as maids for the white women and how poorly they were treated. I found that to be so interesting. Although I know racism is still around, I don't feel like I it's something I think about very much. It wasn't that long ago that it was so prevalent in our day to day life, especially in the southern states. It was a book that made me think and made me laugh.

It was so well written. I couldn't wait to finish but was so sad when it ended. The characters will stay with me for a while.

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Love.....

I've been working and going out lots this week. I rushed home tonight from a going away party to see them before they fell asleep. They were both so happy to see me (as was Emma) and we talked and cuddled for a while. I love those boys so much....

Till Tomorrow

Jenn

Happy Halloween

Hope yours was a fun one. Ours here was good. The weather wasn't too cold which was great. And although Nathan got quite scared part of the way through it was still a fun night. One of the houses we went to had a hand in the bowl and when you put your hand in to get a candy, the fake hand came down on you. That totally spooked Nathan, he was not reaching into any bowls after that. =)

Here is my scary ninja dinosaur.





Till Tomorrow

Jenn