Christmas Eve

We were all ready for Christmas.

The tree was decorated.



We took time to read Christmas stories.



So we drove to Banff to spend Christmas Eve in the mountains.



There was a candy Banff Springs Hotel...



and the girls were two sizes too small.



We skated on the pond




and then came home to leave cookies for Santa (and oats and carrots for the reindeer.)

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

In an exciting and busy day, Sarah got to wear her pyjamas to school for pyjama day, she brought in chocolate brownies for the class, Daddy picked her and Alison up for lunch at Nick's, and they did art projects all afternoon. After she got home and dressed for skating, Mom got home to take her to the rink, and we were surprised with 15 bonus ice minutes! Yay! Free skating time!

Once we got back home, we had a wonderful dinner - lamb chops with potatoes and as a special treat picked out by Alison, artichokes! Then there were presents, and plenty of them, followed by ice cream cake.

It was quite a day. Mom crashed while reading Alison's story and couldn't even post a blog about it until the next day.

Here's the birthday girl in all her present-opening glory:

Birthday Party!

We celebrated Sarah's 9th birthday a bit early. We went to a rec centre where there was a skating rink, a wave pool and a party room. It was lots of fun. We'll see if turning 9 for real on Friday will be a bit of a let-down after the big party...

Soaring through the air

Sarah's skating coach strapped her into a harness at skating today to practice her waltz jump. Check this out!

Birthday Party

For Alison's birthday we had a Hawaiian luau party.

There were friends....



ice-cream cake...



and best of all, Gramma came to visit.



What a great way to celebrate!

Now she is six

When I was One,
I had just begun.

When I was Two,
I was nearly new.

When I was Three,
I was hardly Me.

When I was Four,
I was not much more.

When I was Five,
I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

A.A. Milne



Happy Birthday Alison!!

No more using one hand to state her age

Alison will be six tomorrow. She's going to look great on her birthday.

Tooth Update

I have been slack at updating the tooth loss tales of Rustle's girls. About a week before Halloween, Alison lost another bottom tooth, leaving an enormous gap in her mouth. She developed a temporary lisp due to the absence of so many teeth. I asked her if it was hard to talk without any teeth, and she said, "No, it's just hard to make some sounds."

Sarah is wiggling another tooth too. When this one goes, it will be the twelfth lost tooth, a tally about which we are all expected to be impressed.

Rustle's mom goes back to work

It's been a tough week for Rustle. Not only is the big guy gone all day, the little tail-pullers taking off on the big yellow box with wheels, but now the mom disappears for most of the day. What's a dog to do?

Apparently, he will sleep all day and then exuberantly wag his tail when she gets home.

Happy Halloween

On a cold and snowy Halloween, our pumpkins froze and our decorations were hidden in the white stuff. But did that deter trick or treaters? Well, yes, there were about half of the number we got last year. But NO, it did not deter Rustle's beautiful girls.

Here we have Ms. Mulan, the princess who doesn't need a prince and can take care of herself....




Here we have a rodeo clown, the most original costume winner of the night!

Homework

Kids do not enjoy homework. Sarah's teacher has a "no-homework-except-daily-reading" policy which we enjoy immensely (except now I have absolutely no idea what she is doing in school since Sarah tells us NOTHING). It's nice not to have to fight with at least one kid about getting homework done.

Alison has a nightly reading program as well as a weekly spelling list. She is an awesome little speller and scores perfectly each week, partly because she has to practice her list. After writing out her 5 words, she knows how to spell them and knows how to edit/correct mistakes she may have made. The trouble is that if her sister is watching TV, Alison wants to do that, too.




I won't let her do her homework in front of the TV, which makes her rather grumpy, as you can see.

In a spin

The girls have been very busy lately, what with school all day and other activities 6 days a week. Sarah skates twice a week, and this week she was working on her spins. Getting her legs right has been tricky!

Gummy

Alison has lost two more teeth. The first top tooth came out a couple of weeks ago, but we saw that it's neighbour was dangling. In fact, I was thinking she might want to be a witch for Halloween since her dangly teeth would be the perfect look. She fooled me though, and came home from school today with her other front tooth in her pocket. Now she has a HUGE gap in her smile, and if they keep falling out at this rate, she will be gumming her meals again.

Here's the gap + crooked tooth:



And here is today's spacious look:

A Foggy Day

Where did the bottom of the hill go?

I think I'll stay up here with my people.

Sparky goes Outside

On a beautiful September day, the Sparks went for a day camp. Lots of crafts, snacks, and hikes later, the new Sparks were officially welcomed to the unit. Alison, as the only 2nd year Spark in attendance, was in charge of welcoming the new girls. She was very impressive as the Spark Enroller.

The Amphitheatre

The naturalization committee at the girls' school has opened up an amphitheatre in the school yard (or, as Alison called it, "the place where we learn outside.")

The inaugural event at the grand opening was Sarah's dance group's repeat performance of the dance with ribbons. Unfortunately for us, Sarah was in the back of the group, but here is a photo of the dancers in the amphitheatre to share anyway. Sarah is behind the girl in white, beside the one with the blue shirt sticking out. Just imagine her face!

Making the most of it

Such is life in Calgary. Monday it's hot and we are wearing tank tops, on Friday it snows. What can you do?



Try to catch snowflakes.

Back to School

It's the first day of school! Hurray!

Sarah is very excited to start Grade 4 and has been doing a great job trying to get her sister excited about Grade 1.


Rustle walked his girls to the bus this morning and has been wondering why it's so quiet around here ever since.......

Vacation 2006

We went on a trip to a beach at a mountain lake.

Rustle drove.

(only on the ferry)

The girls played in the sand, swam in the lake and ran along the beach. We stayed in a little cabin and had a good week away.

A trip to Banff

Rustle and his girls took the Hoch cousins to Banff for a little hike.

We went to the Upper Falls at Johnston Canyon -


Sarah was not all that impressed -


and to Lake Minnewanka to skip some stones.

River Rafting

We took a long rafting ride on the Bow River with our friendly neighbours. It was a lovely day, not too hot, not windy, just perfect for a relaxing float through the city. The children swam along, snacked a lot, and we even got to see a deer. Didn't catch any fish, though.

Picnic at the fountain

Sarah and Alison wanted to take their bikes to the fountain to have a picnic. Here is photographic evidence that Mom is not completely unfun.

Mountain Hike

Rustle took his people for a hike in the mountains. It's not as much fun as he thought because he has to stay on leash, but it's always nice to get out with the whole family and enjoy the splendor of the Rockies.

Exploring

This week, while all the neighbour kids were away on vacation, the girls and I did some exploring. We got to the Science Centre, rode bikes on the trails at Fish Creek park, and drove for an hour and a half to the beach at Sylvan Lake.

There was sand and swimming, which made the trip "definitely worth it" in the words of Sarah. Very crowded, but there was still fun to be had.