Confederation Hockey Tournament

Blake and the KC 054 Storm took part in the Confederation Hockey Tournament, over the Christmas break.  A huge thank you to all our family and friends who came out to cheer on Blake and the Storm :)

We had a fun-filled few days, playing in the tournament and watching and cheering on friends in the tournament!!  I love a good tournament - so much fun for the whole family and always brings the team together :)

Here are a few of our favorite photo's from the tournament (Blake is #4):

Blake likes to pinch in, in two situations: 1) when they're up by 2 or more goals and/or 2) when he realizes they are quite a bit stronger than the other team!

Coach Cal in action!

A Storm win!!

Go Blake Go!!!

Blake carries it up the ice

Get that puck out of there, Blake!!

Big hugs for Bryton after a win!

Coach/Dad presenting Blake with his silver medal.  There were tears which quickly turned into smiles :)  A fierce competitor, our boy is!

Silver medalist's

Ryan on Blake's right, Max on Blake's left - best buds and on 3 different hockey teams!!  Nathan, in front of Blake, is Ryan's brother and in Emerson's class :)

So proud of Blake and the effort he puts in to every single game!!  That's my boy :)

Ryan won gold medal in his division, we had fun cheering him on in the final!!

The Weaver's and the Cameron's - great friends and goofy as heck ;)

Christmas Blessings!!

With the hustle and bustle of December, Christmas vacation arrived quickly!!  I always like to do a lot of Christmas baking and this year was no different!  Once the kids were off school, the bake fest began ;)  We enjoyed a few 'home' days off leading up to Christmas Eve.  Cal took the remainder of his vacation time and was off the same time the kids were off school.

I love Christmas time but always find it hard to not see everyone we love during the holidays.  I wish we could travel long distances, in a short period of time so we could transport to Tisdale and then to Grande Prairie and back home to Edmonton and get a visit in with all our family.

Christmas Eve was our family pj service at Church.  Cal and I were asked to participate in the service.  We enjoyed doing the candle lighting and prayers.  The kids had fun participating in the service, each making a beautiful ornament for our Christmas tree!  Afterwards cookies and milk were served.  It's a wonderful service for families and super fun and nice to wear our Christmas pj's ;)  After the service we picked up supper and drove around St. Albert, looking at Christmas lights.  When we got home, reindeer food was spread and cookies and egg nogg set out for Santa Claus!  Then off to bed for the Cameron kids!!

Ready for Christmas Eve PJ service at Church!

Egg Nogg and our homemade cookies and cherry tart, all set out for Santa and carrots for the reindeer!

Gorgeous craft from Christmas Eve PJ Service.

Santa has landed!!

Christmas morning we had our traditional Christmas Wife Saver breakfast (my favorite!!)  My parents and Grandma Kelley dropped in for coffee mid-morning!  The kids enjoyed showing off their new Christmas gifts!!  After lunch, we packed up and headed to Stony Plain for Christmas at the Cameron's.  Cal's Mom, niece Katie and nephew Greyson flew in from Grande Prairie on the 24th and it was great to spend Christmas with them and with Gerry, Lesley, Colby and Jenna.  We had a great day, thank you so much to Gerry & Lesley for hosting our 'Cameron' Christmas :)  The kids played so unbelievably well together - for almost 7 hrs straight!!  The girls put on a little concert, complete with princess dresses and microphones!!  The boys played and played and learned some new Minecraft tricks!!  It was a wonderful Christmas Day!

Cousins, rocking out on Christmas Day!!

Jenna, Colby, Blake, Emerson, Reese, Katie and Greyson on Christmas Day :)

Blake and Colby playing Minecraft

The girls in their matching pj's from Grandma Bev!

 Boxing Day was Christmas at the Smith's!  We woke up and had a hard time getting ourselves together to get out the door, but we made it before noon and in time for round 2 of Christmas wife saver breakfast ;)  We had a great day!!  The kids had fun with their cousins, playing with their new Christmas gifts and we all had fun skating at the Forest Green Outdoor rink!  The weather wasn't quite as nice as last year but we still got some skating in!  Thanks Mom and Dad for hosting our Christmas, it was another great day :)

My family on Boxing Day at Mom and Dad's :)

Our adorable kids!

Reese and Connor, catching a ride to Forest Green Outdoor Rink!

Em and Connor

Uncle Jeremy playing hockey with Blake and Em

Reese and Cal playing ringette

Ready to open our stockings!!

 We hope you enjoyed your Christmas celebrations! 

xoxo
Tracy

2014 Christmas Letter

Christmas greetings from the Cameron family!  It’s been a happy, busy year here in our house!

The Cameron kids are all doing well in school and according to their teachers, they reserve their ‘best’ (cough, cough) behaviour for home!!  Blake is in grade 2 and loves school, especially science, math, social studies, art, DPA (daily physical activity, what us old folks call gym class!), Daily 5, music class … never mind, he loves it all!!  He is reading well in both French and English.  Emerson is in kindergarten this year, her first year of French immersion.  She is picking it up so fast, we love to hear the new words and phrases she learns and she loves to share what she’s learned at school, which is very nice.   Reese loves preschool and has told us she does not want to go to Kindergarten next year.  Hopefully she changes her mind by next fall!  Reese has made new friends at preschool and isn’t nearly as shy as last year!  We are so proud of all three kids and enjoy volunteering in their classrooms whenever we can!

Our kids keep very active and would probably try every sport in the book, if they could!!  Blake and Em played organized soccer for the first time this spring and had a great season.  Coach Dad stepped up once again and with a friend, took on coaching both teams.  Blake loves novice hockey!  He’s a solid D-man and sees the value in an assist!  Emerson and Reese are playing ringette this winter, with Coach Mom on the ice!  We’re having fun and the girls are doing fantastic!  It is more of a learn-to-play program, no organized games quite yet.  Reese is in her very first dance class and is quite the little dancer – we see many examples of what she calls her ‘moves’, all of which bring a smile to our faces!!  Em is also in dance again and enjoying herself.  And all three kids are keeping up with their swimming lessons.  Three little fishes, they are!  We really love cheering on and coaching our kids in their various sports and activities.  Emerson has mentioned trying Tae Kwon Do and Blake wants to play the guitar and/or the drums … so these activities might be up next on the list!

This fall Cal and I celebrated ten years of marriage.  It is amazing how much has changed in ten years and how fast those ten years have passed!  I commented to Cal that it sure didn’t feel like ten years had passed … he replied that he felt like it was twenty … funny guy, isn’t he?!  In September Cal accepted a new role within Telus.  He moved from Access Engineering to the ATOPS team, as the Access Engineering Design Specialist.  He is in charge of standards for Access Engineering in Telus.  He’s enjoying his new role and keeping very busy!  He still technically works from home but with the little ones around the house, it’s hard for him to work from home, so he spends most of his day at the Telus central office down the road but still enjoys the flexibility of a work-at-home employee.  Cal began attending November Project workouts this year and is really enjoying the exercise, vibe and community that are November Project!  Cal and the kids participated in a trail run this summer, Cal ran the enduro course (15 km) and set a personal best!  The kids ran in the 1K race and did fabulous. Cal is also playing men’s hockey once a week.  I am doing well and still enjoying my ‘Domestic Engineer’ position!!  This fall I took on two new volunteer roles - preschool president and secretary of Blake and Emerson’s school council.  These positions (especially the preschool president) have been more time-consuming than I anticipated but I am enjoying the work and the opportunity to use some of my skills.  I am still running my online consignment store and picked up a little side job helping a turkey farmer sell turkey’s this Christmas!!  Hey, every penny counts ;)  I’m finding that as the kids get older, we all get busier! 

 

This summer we enjoyed a two week break, travelling Alberta with our truck and trailer and visiting some of our favorite places and finding new favorites.  Mt Kidd in Kananaskis was a highlight and a spot we will visit again!  We had such a great time at the interpretive programs in both Kananaskis and Jasper.  We really found that the kids are all getting to the age where we can enjoy these sorts of activities as a family, stretching bed time a little later and sleeping in, in the morning!  As sad as it is to see the kids grow up so fast, this is one of the perks!  The remainder of our summer was spent camping with friends and family and all three kids enjoyed a Pedalheads bike camp and Blake played some 3 on 3 hockey.  I was lucky enough to get away on a girls weekend at the end of May, meeting two of my best friends in Jasper.  It was a very nice break and great to spend time with some of my closest friends.  Cal’s first week of his new job was spent in Vancouver.  Although there were meetings, there was also team building activities, which included zip lining on Grouse Mountain!!  He had a blast!

We are celebrating Christmas Day with some of our Cameron family and Boxing Day with our Smith family and hope to hear from and see many of you over the holidays!  From our family to yours – wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2015!!

Love,

Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Reese

Christmas parties and concerts!

As it should be, December was filled with concerts and parties :)

On the 14th, the kids participated in our Church's Christmas Pageant.  The girls were angels and Blake was a village person!  Grandma and Grandpa came to watch and all the kids did a great job!

We enjoyed an evening at Blake's school on December 10th.  Crafts and goodies in his classroom and carolling in the gymnasium :)  Fun for the entire family and his classroom looked amazing!!  Pinterest teacher, Mlle. Melissa for the win!!!

Emerson's Christmas concert was on the 11th and Grandma and Grandpa also got to attend!  Blake and Cal rushed over to the school from hockey practice and made it just as Em was getting on stage ... I admit, I was worried ;)  Em sang her heart out en francais and the look on her face when at the end of the concert, the principal announced that Santa had arrived, was priceless!

Reese had a Christmas party on 17th.  Cal joined us for the concert portion of the morning :)  After the concert there were crafts and a pot luck lunch.  I always love the crafts the teachers come up with!  This year my favorite was homemade hot chocolate in a baby food jar, decorated and with instructions - so cute!!  And Reese was allowed to make one for Blake and Em too!  Santa also visited and all the kids had their photo taken with him and received a toboggan from the preschool board!

The 20th was a busy party day with Blake's team hockey party after practice and then my Mom and Dad's DWS company Christmas party!  The hockey party was fun, complete with pizza and a gift exchange and lots of mini-sticks and fun!!  The DWS party was great, it's always nice visiting with that group of people and Mom and Dad always host a great party!!  Great food, drink and company :)

Tonight the boys headed to the Oilers game for a boys night out!  Blake sure loves his Oilers, particularly Taylor Hall!  I love hearing his commentary of the games when he gets home ;)

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas and all the best in 2015!!  Enjoy the holidays with friends and family :)

xoxo
Tracy

Emerson, Blake and Reese at their Church Pageant

The kids with Santa after Emerson's Christmas concert

Emerson's Christmas concert

Blake during his Christmas Night in his classroom

Gorgeous kiddo's in front of Blake's classroom Christmas tree!

Reese getting down during her Christmas concert at preschool!

Reese and Santa in an in depth conversation about Puppy Surprise ;)

Oil Kings Clinic!

Blake was lucky enough to spend some of Sunday afternoon at an Edmonton Oil Kings clinic at West Edmonton Mall!!!  He was extremely excited and really hoping he would get to meet his favorite Oil Kings player, who also happens to be named Blake AND is #4 AND plays defence ... what are the chances?!

We headed to the mall early, to make sure we could find parking and get to the rink on time!  Blake's session was from 2 to 2:50 pm and he had to check in 45 min early.

He had such a great time!  He was on the ice with another team mate and school friend and we ran in to a lot of people we know from our hockey community!!  Grandma D got to come and watch too!

They did various drills and played a scrimmage against three Oil Kings.  As they were getting off the ice, Blake Orbin was getting ready to go on the ice for the next ice session.  So luckily Blake got his autograph and a picture taken with him!  Blake Orbin also thought it was kind of cool that they were both Blake's, both #4 and both defensemen ;)

This was  a fabulous event, and I think Blake is pretty darn lucky that he has all these opportunities!!

Blake and his friend Ryan, ready to hit the ice for the clinic!

Getting some tips from the Oil Kings!

Blake and Blake, #4 and #4 !!!

Our Blake with his signed Oil Kings cards. One happy boy!  What a great experience :)

Reese's Birthday Celebrations!

I volunteered in Reese's preschool classroom the day of her birthday.  The day before we baked cupcakes for her class and she was so excited to bring them to her friends at school!  That night the girls had dance and she was so happy when her class sang Happy Birthday to her :)  We came home to have lasagna for her birthday supper (one of her favorite's!) and birthday cake, of course!

Her birthday party was the next day.  She wanted a 'jumping' birthday at the Launch Pad ... but the Launch Pad is so far from our house and expensive in my opinion.  So I showed her the Princess bouncy house at Jumpy Things and she got super excited, so a Jumpy Things birthday party it was!  She wanted an Aurora party, she is slightly obsessed with Aurora these days which is interesting, considering Princess Aurora isn't a very popular princess right now!  I had a hard time finding Aurora plates, napkins, etc, but did find napkins that had a few different princesses on them, including Aurora!  And as always, birthday invitations and cupcake toppers from Etsy were ordered - with only Aurora on them :)  (huge thank you to Auntie Lindsay for assembling the cupcake toppers!!)  And thanks to my crafty friend, we had Aurora zipper pulls made for the gift bags!  Reese had a great time at her birthday party, this was her first out of home party!  She was spoiled by family and friends and is enjoying all her new presents!!  Thanks everyone for celebrating our little girls 4th birthday with us :)  On the drive home from the party she said, "My party was so fun!"

Opening gifts before school on the 19th!

Big brothers and big sisters are always so much help ;)

Quick pic before school on Reese's 4th birthday!

Team work, blowing out the candles on Reese's 4th birthday!

Bouncing in her princess bouncer, at her birthday party on the 20th!

Cupcake time at her birthday party!

Our beautiful birthday girl :)

You are 4, Reesey!!

We are glad you had a fabulous, fun 4th Birthday Reese!!  We love you to the moon and back :)  You have grown up a lot in the past year, beginning preschool, starting unparented swimming lessons, becoming more independent and learning so much!  You are a smart, beautiful, imaginative, stubborn, funny little girl who loves to 'read', sing, dance, play dress up, wear dresses every day, play Barbies and dolls, color and draw and cuddle with your Mom and Dad!  You love your big sister and brother and play very well (most of the time) with both of them.  You have made new friends this year at preschool and we have enjoyed watching you come out of your shell, just a little bit!  You are still quite cautious and shy around people you do not know well, which is just fine in our books.  You are loving your new dance class and doing so good at ringette!  We are so proud of you and can't wait to explore this next year with you :)

xoxo

Mom & Dad

November

November has come and gone!  Here's a quick review of this fabulous month :)

- Cal started coaching the 1st Shift program, a collaboration between Hockey Alberta and Bauer Hockey.  He shares his passion and expertise for hockey with a group of first time hockey players every Saturday for 8 weeks!  He is coaching with our friend Dale and is loving this experience. (for more info click here!)

- Reese had her very first special helper day at preschool!  I stayed to watch her, as the beginning of the morning is when they do their show and share and she gets to lead the class in the morning routines!  I was so proud of her and how she pointed out the schedule for the day, counted the letters in her name and told everyone the letters in her name.  She was also so cute during the show and share portion of the morning!  She brought an old doll from home.  They have to have their parent write out 3 clues and have the class guess what the show and share item might be.  She took the sheet out of the show and share bag and pretended to read what was on it.  It was adorable and of course I teared up ;)

- Cal traveled to the exciting town of Drumheller for work!  He will be visiting Drumheller often, as it is a test site for some new technology Telus is trialling.

- My wonderful Mom babysat the girls so I could volunteer in Blake's in class field trip!  It was a pirate themed, buoyancy field trip where they made their own sailboats.  Lots of fun!  I just love Blake's teacher and her perfect classroom.  If I was a teacher, she would be my inspiration!! 

- We enjoyed our first ever Fall break.  I really hope our school board continues this break!!  We had our regular activities but it was also very nice to spend down time together :)  The kids relaxed, played well together and enjoyed their break.  Cal took some vacation time too, which was nice!

- We celebrated my 34th birthday!  I had a nice brunch with my Mom, sister and nephews the morning of my birthday and we went out for supper with my Mom and Dad the following day! 

- We celebrated Reese's 4th birthday, which I will dedicate a separate blog post to!

- Emerson lost her first tooth and received a Bishop Savaryn's Best award at school :)
- Blake's 1st report card of the year came home on November 21st.  As expected, he is doing very, very well and we are extremely proud of him! 

- Cal and Blake had fun at an Oil Kings game with their friends Dale and Ryan!  They are 4 pea's in a pod ;)

- On the 27th we attended Emerson and Blake's demonstration of learning day.  It was nice to spend some time in both their classroom's, learning about their daily routines and what they are currently learning and working on in class.  Both teachers have nothing but praise for both Blake and Em!  We are very proud of them both.  After the demo, we visited the book fair and picked out some new books!

- Winter hit Edmonton on the 27th, making travel within the city difficult!!  Many vehicles were stuck in our neighborhood and so we kept the girls home from school on the 28th.  All 3 kids had cancelled field trips on the 28th, which really upset Reese.  Her field trip will be re-booked but she was quite upset!  Blake still wanted to attend school, as it was a pj day for him, so Cal came home and stayed with the girls while I used the truck (and 4x4!) to take Blake to school and then go to the preschool to cancel the field trip for that day.  Cal worked from home that day!

- On the 29th we had Reese's preschool pub night at Richard's Pub.  It was an extremely successful evening, raising almost $14,000.00!!  We had a fun evening out with my Mom, sister and friends.  Thank you to my Dad for babysitting our munchkins!!  Our fundraising committee this year worked so hard!  I have to say I am glad it is over!  Check that off the list ;)

- Blake's hockey team is doing great in their regular season games!  Blake's having a blast and we are enjoying watching the team grow and learn!  Cal is doing a fabulous job as head coach, putting many hours into practice planning.  It is obvious, as the entire team is working so well together and improving each and every week.  

- Ringette is going well.  The girls are still enjoying themselves and excited for Saturday's!  I was the head coach last weekend, which was a bit stressful but it went well!!  The girls tire out after 40 or so min so trying to keep them interested and on the ice can be challenging!  But they are all improving each week and having fun :)  

- And swimming and dance are great too!! It was parent watch week at dance last week.  I loved watching the girls classes and can't wait for the year end recital!!  Em will also be in a competition in the Spring!
- And last but not least, I can not forget to mention the 'stache ... Cal's November Project friends decided to support mens cancers by participating in the Movember Project!  Cal grew quite the unique mustache, resembling Lanny McDonald!!  I was not sad to say goodbye to the mustache but I really didn't mind it too much ;)  The November Project team raised $3700 - 3 cheers for the 'mo!!!

And that sums up the most exciting news from our November!  Christmas will be here before we know it and we are busy preparing and enjoying the Season :)

Talk to you soon!!

Tracy

Reese is star of the day at Preschool!

Enjoying the first snow fall!!

Crazy hair day at preschool!

Em looses her first tooth and receives an award at school :)