Christmas Vacation!

Our Christmas holidays are nearing an end :(  Cal has had this week off and I am very thankful!!  The kids have been under the weather the entire time.  Poor Blake has had the brunt of it with an ear infection, throat infection and today was diagnosed with pneumonia.  Blake is such a trooper when he is sick.  He doesn't complain at all, just like when he was younger and had back to back ear infections for almost 8 months straight - not one complaint of pain!  Granted, his behaviour has been a bit off some days!!  Today on the way to the pediatrician's office I told him that he had to tell me if there was anything bothering him, because otherwise the Dr. won't know and wouldn't be able to treat him properly.  He told me his head hurt ... all the time.  I almost cried :(  He's been spiking a fever off and on for a week now, but today was fever free.  Thank goodness!  Yesterday seemed to be the worst, with chills and feeling really cold off and on, followed by a fever.  But he's on 2 antibiotics now, one that the odd walk-in clinic Dr. prescribed for his ear infection and one our pediatrician prescribed for the pneumonia (both will hit the throat infection!).  Emerson had a fever at the beginning of the week and some diarrhea but has been fine for a few days now and Reese was also feverish for a few days, but seems to be fine now!  Em still has a nasty sounding cough and we're hoping that goes away very soon!!

Other then the above illnesses, we have had a great stay-cation.  Because Blake and Emerson were not feeling well on Christmas Eve, we were going to fore-go the Christmas Eve Church service we usually attend, but Blake and Em insisted we go!  They really look forward to the children's nativity scene on Christmas Eve!  We were glad we went, as our shepperd and angel were so cute and really enjoyed themselves!  Reese spent the majority of the service walking around the back of the Church and snacking - quite a change from playing baby Jesus last year!!

Christmas morning the kids all slept in, which was a nice present for Cal and I!!  We opened our gifts here and took our time playing with our new toys and getting ready to head to my Mom and Dad's in Stony Plain for Christmas with my parents and Lindsay and Jeremy.  When we got to Stony we opened our gifts and stockings (Santa visits our house and Grandma and Grandpa's house!!).  Later in the afternoon our family and my Mom and Dad went skating at Dog Rump Creek.  This was Emerson's 1st time on skates and she did AMAZING!!!  We could not believe it!  She was so pleased with herself and later that night when I asked her what her favorite part of the day was, she replied, "Skating all by myself, without any help!"  (I think she took about 3 steps on her own ;) )  Our little skating trip was the highlight of my Christmas Day, everyone so happy and enjoying the great outdoors and feeling so proud of our little skaters :)  Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious dinner and had a nice visit with my Aunt and Uncle before heading home later that evening.  It was a great Christmas Day! 

On Boxing Day Cal and I took in the home opener in the 2011 World Juniors - Canada vs. Finland.  Canada was by far the favorites and won the game handily!  It was so much fun, even though the score wasn't close!  Being in that environment, with thousands of fans cheering on Team Canada and then belting out the national anthem (before and after the game!) was an awesome experience!! 

On the 27th we visited the Stony Plain Cameron's.  The kids had fun playing games and checking out Colby and Jenna's new toys!  Lesley made a delicious lunch, which reminds me I still need to get the recipe!!  We also enjoyed opening gifts from Grande Prairie!  We're so thankful to have some of our Cameron family close-by :) 

Cal and Blake went to the USA vs CZE game today and had a great time!  Apparently it was a very good hockey game, which the Czech's won!!  Blake enjoyed the whole experience, from the LRT ride, to the game, to the popcorn and juice Cal bought him ;)  He also told Cal he could skate faster then those guys!  And he described the periods as games and told me that after the first game he got popcorn and juice and then there was another game and another game!!!  The only other hockey games he's been to are Cal's when he was not even 2 years old and an Initiation 2 game where they don't clean the ice between periods, so I can see why he thought there were 3 games!!  We're really looking forward to seeing his reaction in February, when Cal takes him to an Oilers game.  Their seats are in row 2 and on the side of the ice that the Oilers warm up in, so he'll be seeing them close up!

Tomorrow we are looking forward to a visit from our dear friends the Hrdlicka's!  And depending on how our kids are feeling, we may take in some New Year's Eve celebrations!! 

Talk to you next year ... (I'm so funny ;) )

xoxo

Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Reese

2011 Christmas Letter and Photo

Hello to all our friends and family!

We hope 2011 has been kind to you and yours …
2011 has been the busiest year of our lives!! We seem to say that every year, but this one has definitely gone by the quickest!! Here is a little bit of what has been keeping us busy:
Blake turned 4 on May 5th. He continues to be mistaken for a 5 year old and sometimes even a 6 year old! He is very tall for his age, not a trait he picked up from Cal or I, but somewhere further down the line! Blake is our deep thinker … he is a planner and not in the least impulsive! He is very routine, right down to where his teddy bears sleep at night and the words he says at bed time! Blake also has an amazing memory. For example, last month we went to West Edmonton Mall. When we came out, I had no idea where we were parked. Blake said, “We are parked in between the F and the G Mom.” And sure enough we were! I asked him how he knew that and he said, “I looked when we got out the van.” Of course, we think he is a very smart boy ;) Blake is enjoying his preschool class, swimming lessons, initiation 1 hockey and skating lessons. He has a blast in all these activities and has been passing his swimming lessons with flying colors, moving up to Gliders this fall. Much of his swimming lesson is in the deep end of the pool now and he’s even learning how to dive! He also loves hockey and skating and continues to improve every week! Blake’s favorite hockey player is Taylor Hall and he loves watching Don Cherry on Hockey Night in Canada! We are excited to take him to a few World Junior Championship games at the end of December and hopefully an Oilers game in the New Year! Blake will be starting Kindergarten in the fall of 2012. We’ve had a hard time deciding which school and program to put him in (sometimes too many choices is not a good thing!!) but have decided to enroll him in a Catholic, French Immersion program. He is looking forward to “big kid school” and is excited to take the yellow bus!!
Emerson will be 3 in February and is a busy little girl! She is a lot of fun, very cuddly at times and very imaginative! We love hearing the stories she comes up with! She can tell quite the tale! But she also keeps us on our toes and challenges us with her feisty little attitude!!! She’s definitely not passive ;)  She has embraced her role as a big sister and loves her little “Reesey.” She is very helpful and enjoys assisting with everything to do with Reese!! We are very lucky Blake and Emerson get along quite well and are the best of buds most days. I think Emerson will be a bit lost when Blake starts Kindergarten! Emerson has a lot of fun attending “Come Play With Me” with Reese and I while Blake is in school. She loves her “teacher” and to her, this is her school time! We dance, sing, enjoy story and craft time! She knows every tune and all the actions to go with them!! Emerson also has a blast at her swimming lessons and gymnastics classes. Cal and I often wonder what types of sports Emerson will pursue in the future or be successful in, as she loves to do her “gymnastics” moves around the house (a.k.a. on the coffee table, the couch, the stairs, etc.!!). I worry about the furniture, but see Olympic rings in her future … totally joking ;) We hope to enroll Em in some sort of music/dance/art class in the New Year, as this is an area she really loves and would like to explore. 2012 will be a big year for Em – she will begin Preschool when she turns 3 and will also be in un-parented lessons! It is hard to believe our little girl is growing up so fast.
We can not believe how fast Reese’s 1st year has passed!! Reese turned 1 on November 19th. She is our earliest walker and is so proud of herself as she tottles around!!! Of course Blake and Emerson are her biggest fans, cheering her on every day and always lending a helping hand! Reese is also quite the chatterbox, chattering away all day and holding conversations with us all! We do recognize a few of her words and she comprehends quite a bit of our conversations. Reese enjoys reading books, attempting to do puzzles, playing with dolls and spends a lot of time chasing her older brother and sister around the house ;) She is also a very independent little girl and we predict Reese will be giving Emerson a run for her money in the “feistiness” department … she certainly has a mind of her own and isn’t afraid to voice her “opinion!!” Blake will have his hands full with his 2 sisters ;) Reese also has a lot of fun at “Come Play With Me”, she “sings” and dances her little heart out. And like her siblings, Reese loves the water and is going to begin parented swimming lessons in the spring!

Cal is doing great! He is keeping busy at work and has changed roles within TELUS. He is now working in inside plant in charge of DC power for Edmonton and north. He has a large area of AB to cover, which means some overnight stays every now and then. He continues to work 4, 10 hour days which works really well for all of us. Blake and Em love when he is able to take them to school! In his spare time (chuckle, chuckle … really not much of that these days!) he continues to run and still aspires to complete a full marathon. For the 2nd year, Cal is coaching Blake’s hockey team. He is enjoying seeing all the players improve and most of all having fun! We are all itching to get started on a backyard rink, but our weather has not been cooperating! Emerson hopes to skate as well, so we shall see how that goes! She will not only have Cal and I coaching her, but Blake I’m sure will be a wealth of knowledge ;)
I am doing great as well! Keeping very busy with our 3 munchkins and all their activities! I must say going from having 2 kids under 4 to 3 under 4 felt more like going from 2 to 6!!! I think the year has gone by so fast, because we have been so busy!! But I do love being home with the kids and spending so much time with them and I could not imagine our family any other way! Some days I do understand where the term “domestic engineer” comes from, as I try to organize and juggle a million different things at one time!!! There is never a dull moment and never a shortage of work to be done! To add to the workload, I began a new venture earlier this year!! People who know me well, know how much I LOVE to dress our little cuties up and after discovering the online consignment world, I opened an online consignment business of my own! It is run through Facebook. I have really enjoyed this new business, albeit the late nights!! If you are on Facebook, please check out my page … just search for “Cameron’s Closet”! Cameron’s Closet takes up much of my spare time, but I have also really enjoyed taking in a few Oilers games with Cal and friends (we split season tickets with a few friends) and date nights with my other Mom friends!! In the New Year I have to work on scheduling some me time and taking care of myself, I have to admit I have not been good at that this year!! I have been saying for awhile now that I want to try Zumba … so I better get at it ;)
We stuck fairly close to home this summer, enjoying our local attractions, but did do some travelling in AB and SK. Our travels in AB included taking our annual trip to “A Day Out With Thomas” in Calgary in May and spending a long (rainy!) weekend at Ol’ MacDonald’s Farm! We were in SK at the Smith family cabin at Marean Lake Resort for 2 weeks in July. The sun was hot and the insects minimal, which paved the way for a great time!! I love it there and the kids had a blast and are always asking to go back or saying, “When we go to the cabin again …!!” At the end of our vacation time in SK, we celebrated my grandparent’s (my Dad’s parents) 60th wedding anniversary and had a great time catching up with all my cousins, aunts and uncles while celebrating a fantastic couple! In August we took a quick day trip to Battleford, SK to celebrate my Grandma Kelley’s (my Mom’s Mom) 80th birthday. My Mom and her siblings threw a surprise party and once again we had a great time catching up with many relatives whom we don’t see often enough! We were also very lucky to see Grandma and Grandpa Alstad (Cal’s Mom’s parents) this summer, as they were down this way! It is so nice to see our grandparent’s, but also for the kids to see them as well, as they are very blessed to have so many wonderful grandparents and great grandparent’s in their lives! At the end of August Reese and I took a quick flight to Saskatoon to attend my cousin’s wedding, which was a great time! And to end our out of town travels this year, we all headed up to Fort McMurray to spend the Thanksgiving long weekend at my sister’s new house! One thing we have found funny and enjoyed at the same time, is that amongst all these travels this summer/fall the kids feel like world travelers and we haven’t even left AB and SK?!  Oh to be a kid again … while I lust after a European vacation, all they want is to go back to SK!!!
We are truly blessed and very thankful for the many blessings in our lives. We hope this letter finds you in good health and surrounded by loved ones at this special time of year.
Wishing you and yours a wonderful holiday season and a fabulous 2012!

Tracy, Cal, Blake, Emerson and Reese Cameron