Happy Birthday, Reesey!!

The littlest Cameron turned 6 on the 19th! Since her birthday was on a Saturday, we were able to celebrate and have her party on her actual birthday :) We woke up early to open gifts with Reese before Em and I headed to an early morning ringette practrice.  After ringette we had a few hours to get ready for the birthday celebrations!  We met Reese's friends at the theatre. We watched Trolls and the kids loved it!!  It was a great movie, very colorful and musical!  After the theatre we headed back to our house for playtime and cake!  Reese had a fabulous time, she loved the movie and loved having a house full of friends and family :) After parents picked their party-goers up, my parents and the Parenteau family stayed for pizza!  The kids continued to play and the adults visited.  It was a great day.

7 am, November 19th - ready to open gifts from Mom, Dad, Blake and Emerson!

Birthday morning photo :)

Waiting for Trolls to begin!

The birthday girl and her friend Ava!

Back at the house!

Reese requested a Tsum Tsum cake!

Getting ready to blow out the candles

Yummy ice cream cake!!

Playing with friends

Cake pops from Grandma and Grandpa!!

Trying out her new keyboard :)

The party goers!!

Happy 6th birthday, Reesey!!  We love you to pieces, even more than Reese's pieces, and we can not believe how FAST you've grown!  We're so proud of you Reese and how happy, funny and confident you are.  You seem to know what you want and you have no problem voicing that or going after it!!  You are often silent in the wings but I know you absorb everything, while not needing to be the centre of attention.  Maybe it's a third child thing but you play so well by yourself and can easily entertain yourself with your Barbies, dolls and trinkets!!  You love to draw and sing and I LOVE hearing you sing.  You're really enjoying ringette this year and most especially skating!  You began group piano lessons in September and have really been enjoying your lessons.  You're a little fish and have no fear in the water and one of my favorite things is your cuddles, you are a cuddle bug!!! We wish you a year full of love, laughter, learning and fun - Happy 6th birthday sweetie!

A Spooktacular time!!

Halloween 2016 was spooktacular!  I love Halloween, it's one of my most favorite celebrations. First up in our Halloween fun was the Crusaders Halloween/Pumpkin Carving Party! We had a great time with our hockey family, enjoying lunch and pumpkin carving!

Next up, for me, was the Bucci Halloween Bash!  This party can be summed up in 1 word - BLAST!!  It was a great time with great people.  I got to the party at 8:30 and was home by midnight!  So funny but it was time to get home ... the hostess with the mostess tends to share a few too many shots with her friends ;)  

 

These are the treats I made for my work Halloween party and for the kids snacks for Halloween day!

 

I woke up on the 31st feeling rushed, as I often do on Monday's!  Fortunately I was starting my word day on the northside that day and could take a little extra time to get the kids ready for their day at school!  Em needed face make up and I wanted to make sure all the Halloween costumes and parts were labeled and where they needed to be.  The kids change into their costumes at lunch time on Halloween day but face paint and makeup has to be done in the morning!  Once I was done in my morning class, I headed back to my office for a work party where we had a 'spooky' snack competition, Halloween Jeopardy and a few other contests and games!  Our social committee is pretty awesome ;) My Monster rice krispie squares didn't win but people did enjoy them ;)  After the work party, I rushed off to the kids school for their Halloween parade and dance in the gym!  I love seeing all the costumes and happy kiddo's!!  Reese was super excited to have me in her classroom for part of the afternoon.  I spent some time Blake and Em's classes as well but they weren't quite as excited to have me as the grade 1'er was ;)

 

 

After school on the 31st we carved some more pumpkins because our pumpkins from the Crusaders party had rotted and also because we just love carving pumpkins :)

Then it was time for trick or treating!!  Grandma and Grandpa stopped by for a quick pic of the kids as well :) We drove over to the Weaver's neighbourhood and then we all drove back to our neighbourhood!  The kids pillow cases were full and we all had a blast!  Thankfully the weather was great :)  I hope you all had a fun Halloween!

~ Tracy

Oilers Home/Rogers Place Opener!

Cal and I were lucky enough to get tickets to the Oilers Home Opener on October 12, which was also the first Oilers game in Rogers Place.  When Cal and his friends met to split up our season tickets, Cal was quite surprised to find out the other 2 guys didn't want the home opener!  We thought we'd try to sell the tickets, thinking that if they were worth a lot more than we paid, it would be worth it.  But they didn't sell for our inflated asking price and so we went and I am SO glad we did!  It was the best game I've ever been to and the experience was unreal!!!  The pre-game show, complete with synchronized light show (thanks to bracelets we were all wearing), was spectacular!  And boy-oh-boy, did McDavid ever put on a show!!!  It was awesome, such a great night! We also came home with some pretty cool memorabilia :) I'm so glad our tickets didn't sell and we went!

Anniversary Trip

On October 9th Cal and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary!  We were lucky enough to be in Canmore to celebrate :)  We had such a fabulous time, I'm so glad we got this time away!  At first we were going to bring the kids and then we realized that it was our anniversary weekend and it would be cheaper if just the two of us went - yeah, that's how we roll ;) I was feeling really guilty for not bringing the kids because we really didn't have a good reason to not bring the kids ... and then we checked into our CONDO and I thought again that the kids really could have come!  When I booked our place, I had no idea what I was booking!  I was just looking for a king bed and the best rate!  So we were shocked when we realized we were staying in a two bedroom condo complete with washer, dryer, full kitchen with dishwasher, en suite, full bathroom, fireplace, huge wrap-around deck (with a beautiful view), etc, etc!  It was gorgeous and we definitely need to go back one day and bring the kids!  There was a games room downstairs, 2 pools, hot tub, fitness room, you can borrow board games from the front desk, it would be a great family place to stay!  Check out Blackstone Mountain Lodge!  I booked on www.booking.com and got a wicked rate - 47% off!  Cal and I had a wonderful weekend, I'm really glad just the two of us went.  We enjoyed our evenings out and delicious, leisurely meals and drinks.  I think the last time we had 2 nights away, just the two of us, was when we went to Denver in 2012. We really need to make these get aways a little more frequent ;)

Our main motivation for visiting Canmore that particular weekend was the Grizzly Ultra race. Cal ran a leg as part of team OMC with his November Project peeps.  He said it was a great run, beautiful weather for October and Team OMC finished strong!  Cal ran leg #2, 13 km through mountain trails.  Each leg started and ended at the Nordic Centre in Canmore.  I had fun meeting some more of the NP crowd and cheering everyone on ;) 

I also snuck a visit in with one of my high school besties, Sarah!  Sarah and her family have lived in Canmore for a few years now, her husband is an RCMP officer in Canmore.  I'm so glad we got a chance to catch up, you know you have a friend for life when you can go years without actually physically seeing each other and when you finally meet up again, it's like no time has passed.

A huge thank you to my Mom and Dad for watching our kiddo's for 2 nights!  One of the reasons we don't go away is because we know how much work it is to watch our kid's!!  Not that they aren't awesome kids but it's just a lot, they're busy and don't want to miss any activities and I feel guilty putting that on someone else!  But the kids had a great time and from all reports were well-behaved and grandma and grandpa enjoyed their company!!

Cal and Team OMC hope to run in the Grizzly again next year, so perhaps this will be an annual trip!

Ladies night out!!

I had the best time at the Dixie Chicks concert on September 29th with some of my Bishop Savaryn besties!!  I'm so grateful for this wonderful group of women :) And bonus, our kids enjoy eachother's company!  But this night was all about the mom's - we hit Rogers Place for dinner and the 'chicks!  It was my first time inside Rogers Place and I was slightly disappointed.  It was nice and all but I just found it to be somewhat bare - monotone, grey, as though they're not quite finished??  It is definitely easier to get around and not as crowded, which is really nice.  The line ups for drinks were no shorter than at Rexall Place but the bathroom line ups were a much shorter, so that's great!  We had dinner at Curve, which was a cool experience.  To access the restaurant, you need to be escorted to the elevators.  Needless to say, the six of us felt 'special' as we walked past the line ups of people waiting for the concert doors to open and zipped right in, escorted by a burly security guard, lol!!  The food and drinks at Curve were delicious although slightly over-priced. The Dixie Chicks were great but I felt they put on a better show in Vancouver.  Loved seeing them again, though :)

Reese

Last but certainly not least is Miss Reese Petyon Anne!!  aka, Reesey, Goose and Reester.  And apparently some of her friends call her Reese's Pieces!

Reesey is doing so great in Grade 1!  I really expected her to complain about being at school all day but she hasn't uttered one complaint!  She's enjoying herself and I am already seeing growth in her learning.  I spoke to her teacher last week and Mme. Khair said she is participating a lot in class, which is awesome as last year she didn't really participate.  She loves Mme. Khair and I think she may have needed a bit more structure in her day, which grade one offers.  So here's hoping for a fantastic grade 1 experience for Reese :)  We're off to a good start!!

Reese had her hair cut before school began and her new and shorter 'do just suits her so much!!  She sure has her own sense of style ... she likes to do her hair in various styles but her favorite is a ponytail on one side of her head, some hair hanging in her face and her hair in the back is down.  It's an interesting and unique look for an interesting and unique girl :)

All summer long Reese has said she didn't want to play ringette.  But guess who's changed her mind?!  As soon as we started talking about Em playing ringette, Reese changed her mind!  And now she is super excited to start her ringette season!  She will be in Active Start 2 this year, which is every Sunday and on Thursdays every second week.  She starts on October 2nd. We have to by her a new pair of skates before she starts, her skates from last year are 3 sizes too small!

Reese began piano lessons at the beginning of September.  We enrolled her in group piano lessons at a local music school, called Dominelli's. Reese has had two lessons and is enjoying herself so far!  She needs a keyboard to practice at home but a little birdie told me she may be getting one for her birthday in November ;)

Reese is a social butterfly at school, she seems to know everyone in grade 1!  She loves to stay at the park after school and play with her friends, especially her bestie, Alexa!  She's been to 3 birthday parties this month and has another one on October 1st.  I have a feeling this busy social calendar is not going to slow down for her!!

Reese is a cuddly, sweet, sometimes quiet, goofy, risk-taking, funny girl and we just love her so much!!

Emerson

Next up is the middle child in our family, Miss Emerson Marie or Em the gem, Em or Emmy!!

Emerson is LOVING school!  She has an awesome teacher, someone who I just knew would click with Em!  Her classroom is nature based and Em loves every minute :) We love seeing her so happy at school.  She has a great group of friends, although a new 'BFF' everyday.  I guess it's a girl thing but I am just so happy she has a nice group of friends. She's had quite a few playdates at her friend Faith's house and Faith has come to our house :) 

Emerson is becoming more and more cognizant of what she's wearing and how her hair is done and I love her sense of fashion :)  It's so much fun to shop with her!!  She's always been particular about her clothes but she's now really into pairing items together, along with accessories.  Not just throwing a pink dress with pink leggings because they're both pink ;) It's fun for both of us!!

Emerson's ringette team was just announced tonight and she is so excited to be playing with a few of her friends from last year's team and a fellow hockey sister!!  We're really happy to be spending the ringette season with the Chorney's :)  Emerson skated hard during evaluations and had a blast!  I think she's going to have a great ringette season! This year she moved up to U10 ringette.  There are 3 steps - step 3, 2, 1.  Em's on a step 3 team this year.  She'll likely have 2 practices and 1 game per week.  We can't wait to cheer her on!!

Em is back at Ukrainian dance this season and says it will be a will a really great year because there's 2 boys in her group!  And I agree, adding males to the group will make a much more dynamic dance.  I can't wait to see them perform!! She moved up a level this year and is now practicing for an hour and fifteen minutes per week.

Em is a sweet, spunky, loving, beautiful and sometimes emotional, little girl who has the brightest smile :) Love you so much, Em!!