The Competitor

Sarah has been incredibly busy lately. Ski race season is upon us, and she learned a new program at the beginning of January and skated in a competition with it 3 weeks later. So, in honour of her competitive spirit, congratulations to my girl, trying her best at every opportunity.

Very cold girl racing at Nakiska (home of the '88 Olympic alpine ski events) (but a lame hill nonetheless)...



And here is her Introductory Freeskate...

Renovating

It has been a long time since I've posted because we've been renovating our main floor. We got back from our holiday and the next day had to say goodbye to Gramma and Grampa, take down the Christmas stuff and move all our main floor furniture to the basement. Living without a proper kitchen for over a week was a struggle on its own, let alone the dust and dirt and trying to get everybody all sorted out and off to work and school with all parts intact and UGH! What a mess.

Here are some photos of the work in progress. Paint and furniture still to come....


We are not sad in the slightest to be rid of the ugly blue carpet.

The wiring for the heated floor in the kitchen. It's SOOOOOO nice.

The lovely new slate tile floor. You can see the ugly blue rug in the background, moments before it was tossed away!

Holiday Roundup

Some photos of our lovely Christmas and ski vacation holiday with Gramma and Grampa.

visions of sugarplums dance in her head...

followed by a dance of joy when those dreams come true - the stockings are full!

on the ski hill at Kimberley

Happy New Year!!

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....