Tuesday, December 31, 2013

2013: The video recap

Ahh, time flies when you are having fun.   It's interesting to go back and look at this same post from 2012 and it really doesn't feel like another year has gone by.  As I said last year we are in the glory days of our lives and the days are filled with lots of fun times.  It's busy and has it's ups downs, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  We were lucky that everyone was happy and healthy this year and there were no major issues. 

2014 looks like more of the same.  I've been debating my new years resolutions, but will post them tomorrow and progress on my 2013 resolutions. 


My favorite memory of 2013... ahh so many... hard to pick just one.  Our family vacation to California was so so fun.  Even though I made the most expensive mistake I have ever made, it ended up being one of my greatest mistake too.   Also as you can see from the video our trips to Kelowna and Sandpoint this summer were highlights too. 

My biggest regret of 2013 was that I didn't do the first run I had signed up for.  It was my first ever and I have no good excuse for not doing it.  I sat at home and was disapointed in myself the whole day (and really the whole year) for not doing it.  Luckily it is back next year and I am definitly signing up and doing it.  No. matter. what.   Luckily though I did more runs and ran more this year then I ever have in my life.  2013 was the year I became a runner. 

2013 was also the year I learned to golf and had many fun nights out with my mom, Karen and Tammy in our own ladies league.   It was also the year we started picking different family activities each weekend.  It was also the year we started big family baseball games. 

I hope everyone else had a wonderful 2013 too!

Till Tomorrow

Jenn


Sunday, December 08, 2013

Super Awesome

I don't think I talk often enough about how super awesome my husband is.  He makes delicious food, is a great dad to our two boys and is very creative.  He is in Ontario now sharing his greatness with his family, but I really missed his banana pancakes this morning.    I wanted to brag and give two good examples of his creativeness, from the last month alone.
First is our Halloween Pumpkins.  While he doesn't like to get his hands gucky he does love to carve pumpkins.  This was this years pumpkins and you can see the bottom one is his.  For those of you who don't have 5-12 year old boys it's a creeper from mine craft.  


And on Friday night I got this picture of the cool snowflakes the boys were making at home.Do you see Yoda and Darth Vader and Storm Troopers?  Isn't that super cool. 

As many would say, I married well.

Till Next Time

Jenn

Tuesday, December 03, 2013

November Round Up

November is always challenging as the days are very short.  I miss the sun and the vitamin D it provides, but since I've had a couple of sad Novembers I try to do things to fun things in the month.  We are pretty well in a routine for November too.  Activites are all well established.  Karate and swimming nights are well known as our school days vs. weekends.  

Both boys are doing very well with the routine.  Sometimes there are disagreements about homework or swimming lessons, but in general they are both thriving in school and at home.  Lucas is doing well in leadership club and had to read a school announcment and was part of the Remembrance Day assemby too.  It's amazing how that kid has grown and become a leader in his school. 

We continue with the each person getting to pick their activity on the weekend.  So in November  we went to the Glenbow Muesum, which was Darryl and Nathan's first experience.  It is a really nice museum.  Lucas has been there for a couple time with school and I've been lucky to join them.  Lucas wanted to show Darryl and Nathan their large rock collection which we all enjoyed.   But the best part was the "80s in Calgary' section where they taught us how to break dance.  At first the boys were shy but once I got into it (even though I wasn't good) they started to participate more and loved it.




The next weekend was Nathan's turn to pick and surprisngly enough he choose bowling.  The same thing he chooses most weekends.  =)

Tammy and I also did our freezing cold run in the dark.  Good thing I am a seeker of adventure cause that certainly was!

But the highlight of the month for sure was visiting Edmonton and my good friend Jodie.    We headed up on a Friday and got to the legislature for the last tour.    It was great as all the school kids were gone so we got our own personal tour. We learned a lot about the history of Alberta and it's governenment.  It was very informative and Darryl, Lucas and I really enjoyed it.  Plus Nathan didn't show his boredom too badly.  (wink wink)


Afterwards we headed out to dinner and then to our hotel.  The hotel had a waterslide that the kids loved so they used up lots of energy on that.    On the Saturday, after waking up on very hard beds, we headed to the Science Center in Edmonton to the Harry Potter Exhibt.  It was very informative and Lucas and Darryl really enjoyed looking at all the costumes and props used in the movies.  The Edmonton Science center was really good too.    Very kid friendly.



After that we headed to my friend Jodies "farm" outside of Wetasakwin.  As usual it was great to see her and her husband Chris.  They got a new (and big) dog Scout, which the boys loved.  We had great food and wine, played Scattegories which Jodie kicked all of our butts at (unlike cards, that is not her forte).  The next day was snow rides with their ATV and getting the warm sun on our faces and beautiful fresh air.    It was great to chat with them and they were wonderful hosts. 

Sometimes I feel like our weekends are spent shopping, playdates, birthday parties, working, cooking, cleaning, video games and TV with not a lot of quality family time in their.  I also recognize that these are the "glory days" and in not too long the kids won't want to hang out with us, so it's important to capitilize on these times and that's what the weekend was.  Before it started I wasn't too sure about it, spending money to go to Edmonton, usually I would claim to save it for a bigger vacation.  But it was such a good time; informative for the kids, lots of good laughs and food and fun times.  Well worth it. 
Hope everyone had a great November and had happy moments in the lack of sun.

Jenn