Christmas Concert

I did mention we've had a lot going on lately, haven't I?

This is Sarah's choir performing some lovely Christmas music. Merry Christmas, one and all!

Snowy Rustle

This is why Rustle always tries to get into the car when we leave for skiing. Look how much fun he's having today that he got to accompany Sarah and her dad.

Canasta!

Sarah's latest figure skating test was for her second dance, the Canasta. Her coach said she was ready to test it back in October, but this Tuesday was the first test date open. (Why this week, I'll never know.)

Here she is, rehearsing with her coach, Cecilia.



But on to the more exciting part of the story - She was great! The judge commented on her confidence and the improved knees on the second chasé. I don't know what that means, to be honest, but she was very proud to have passed her second dance. Congratulations Sarah!

Happy Birthday, Sarah

It's been a whole decade of wonderfulness! Sarah turned 10 on Saturday (yes, I know I'm late with the post, but this is a busy time of year! Just wait 'til I get around with the other stuff we've been doing...)

Here's our girl preparing to open her presents, with the drama queen little sister's support...


And here she is opening her new camera. I think she's pretty excited. Maybe the next post will be using her camera for the photos....

Tree Trimming

Birthday Party Reaches New Heights

Sarah's 10th birthday party was a tremendously fun event at the University of Calgary's indoor Climbing Wall. Even Mom climbed all the way to the top. Dad made it to the top of the eight foot bouldering wall, which suited him just fine, thank you very much.

Some photos and a little video of the big day....

Waiting for a turn...

The second climb was a bit trickier.

Alison reaching for the top.

Just hanging around....

Birthday Party

For Alison's seventh birthday, we celebrated with friends at a movie theatre. What excitement! What fun! What a mess I did not have to clean up!

The kids enjoyed Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, then had a great time running about, tossing tissue paper in the air, singing Happy Birthday and snacking on cake and pop. Alison got some fun gifts and was incredibly gracious. It was a great day.

And did I mention the part where I didn't have to clean up....

Happy Birthday, Little Star

For her seventh birthday, Alison has sported a little orange star sticker on her nose. See?


At recess, her teacher asked her what happens if she pushes the little star, and this is a dramatization of the resulting answer.





Alison did enjoy the bounty of her birthday. There were lots of fun writing things in that giant box (plus some other presents for somebody else's birthday coming soon), some cozy jammies, and a green ipod. Green! How awesome is that?

The big downside to the day was that her very sad dad got stuck on an airplane trying to make his way home from Montreal via Toronto. Oddly enough, there was a snowstorm in Toronto seven years ago as well....

Anticipation

It's tough when the parcels start arriving before your birthday. Especially when mean old mom makes you wait until your actual birthday.





The arrival of the giant package also inspired this lovely dramatic piece. Enjoy.

Rustle update

As the rest of the family is swamped with activities and the generally harried pace of life around here (and ski season hasn't started yet! Yikes!), it is important to reflect on life as the furriest member of the family.

Rustle is still busy shedding fur all over the dark blue carpet and running at full tilt in the dog park. He still wags his tail with gusto; whap-whap-whapping it against the bed to wake me each morning, or against the washing machine as I return from work each day. His new favourite toy is an old fleece hat which he has taken to carrying all about the house with him.

Happy, friendly, loves-to-be-around-us Rustle is still as cute as ever, too.

Spider-Girl

Sarah on the climbing wall. Woo-Hoo!

Happy Halloween

Trick or treat, Cowgirl!

Halloween Party

Oh my, it was spooky 'round these parts yesterday. Pirates and devils stomped about in the basement, terrorizing the clown, princess, cowgirl and Paris Hilton. Frightening, indeed.

The girls threw a little gathering, requiring mom to don her Caterer/Dog Handler costume while Rustle avoided the Invisible Dog get-up we hoped he'd adopt. Monsters were mashed, snacks were devoured and a good time was had by all the children.

Some photos...

Making their own fun

Self-Portraits

One of the most amusing components of our iMac is the Photo Booth. A couple of girls who really enjoy looking at themselves, especially if they can make faces, have snapped a lot of pictures. So, for fun, I've compiled a collection and put them to music.

I'm sure the ladies would indulge requests.






You can tell lots of these are over a year old. Check out the random chompers on Alison!

Happy Thanksgiving

Big Events

Posting on the blog has suffered as of late since I've been tremendously busy at work with a government audit and I've turned old. Rustle and the girls managed to keep some very big secrets around that big birthday, too. Rustle because he can't speak English, and the girls because they only knew one big secret and it was only for one day.

The biggest, bestest secret surprise ever was a whirlwind birthday surprise visit from the famous Auntie Mary. Yes, I cried. It was so great to have a weekend with my sister. We did lots of girl stuff, including a spa day at the Banff Springs. It was a wonderful birthday extravaganza.


Bob and the girls picked out a beautiful new mountain bike for me, too. We all went for a ride across Nose Hill Park and Rustle ran alongside us. It was way too long a ride on rough terrain for the puppy and he ended up with a sore paw. He visited the vet who gave him some medicine and he's feeling way better already. We'll still hold off on big bike trips with the dog for a while.

Alison Tries Waterskiing

I noticed a new fancy Blogspot button that might let me bypass YouTube and put up my movies directly on the blog. So.....

My first Blogger movie is from this summer, chronicling Alison's many attempts to try to get up on waterskis.

Enjoy.

Yamnuska

Sarah and her dad tackled Mount Yamnuska today. Sarah had done it all before she started her self-injury campaign, but today, Dad had a camera. A couple of shots:

Four stitches

In an effort to top herself in the injury department, Sarah managed to cut her ear, requiring our first ever trip to the Alberta Children's Hospital on Friday. She was playing hide and seek and slipped on the carpet at our neighbour's house. She hit the desk beside her with the top part of her ear. Hard. She actually cut the cartilage. It was awful! And painful! And her mom almost fainted watching her ear get re-assembled!

The phone call at work asking to meet at the emergency department is not one I ever want to get again.

I'm not sure if she'll want photographic evidence. She's removed the bandage that gave her the classic "Van Gogh" look because she was getting too many questions about it. We have anti-scarring cream ready for when the stitches dissolve.

I think we are assuming that she's going through an awkward growth spurt. Either that or she really needs to start paying attention!

Happy First Day of School

Fashion girl Alison and Lovely Sarah waiting for the bus on the first day of school.

Back to School Haircuts

Just a trim for Sarah, please.


A lovely braid to last just a day, too.


For Alison, "Fashion Girl," a stylish bob. Lovely!

Phew! It's not broken

On Monday, Sarah scaled Mount Yamnuska, using pads to scramble up on her hands and knees, and slid down with a shoe under her bottom and the other foot sliding ahead. Impressive!

On Tuesday, she ran down the path beside our house and smacked her hand on the corner of the chimney. We thought she may have broken her knuckle.

After a solid 4 hours of waiting in a medical clinic, we found out it is not broken. It is seriously contused and swollen and causing her a great deal of pain.

Here are some pictures of the colourful bruising 48 hours after the incident:



And here are some photos of the x-rays of my girl's hand:




The painful injury hasn't slowed her down too much. She still went mountain biking in Kananaskis the day after she got hurt and is heading back to do more climbing tomorrow. She is one tough little girl!

Vacation Photos, Part 3: The Lake

There was a big family reunion at Lake of the Woods this summer. Nine kids, ten adults, one camp and five days meant for tons of fun.


Here's the whole group: 3 grandmothers, 3 sons, 2 daughters, 3 wives, 1 husband, and 11 grandchildren. Phew!


The girls got to do some new things, like driving a boat and water skiing!



Don't they look great in those wet suits?


We think those kids had a good time, don't you?

Vacation Photos, Part 2: Old Friends and New

Aside from hanging with the cousins, we did manage to meet up with some old friends and their young children.

Lissa and Ken and almost-2 Ben have bought a house which we checked out, along with the Beaches Jazz Fest. Ben loves fans and has the cutest way of saying he wants to try something. Sarah and Alison mimicked his "Ben do?" line frequently.



Suzan and the Frasers (sounds like a band, doesn't it?) invited us to visit up in Muskoka. Emma and the babies (sounds like a band again - is this a theme?) were excellent hosts at Littlecroft and Rustle's girls had lots of fun. They also liked having a chance to play with Olive, since it had been over a week since they'd seen their own puppy.

Here's the group getting ready to take Olive for a walk:

Swimming from the dock:

The girls loved helping with the babies. Here's Sarah feeding Busy Miss Lizzie a bottle:

And the gorgeous, almost-2 Emma, showing us the way to the dock:

Vacation Photos, Part 1

We kicked off the vacation with a great visit with Gramma and Grampa, Sue, Alex and Mackenzie. The girls were busy running around with the cousins at Gramma's house, so much so that the only photo I got of them was a solo of Alison in the back yard. Hmph. I did get some beauties at Wasaga Beach, though.




Then we got to spend time with the other cousins at Mary and Ed's house. Lucas, Jack and Sam were lots of fun in the pool. As an added bonus, Nana and Papa were there too. Yay.