We hope our annual Christmas letter finds
all our family and friends enjoying the hustle and bustle of the Christmas
season! We have been enjoying the mild
winter Mother Nature has blessed us with!
We are nowhere near done our Christmas shopping but we do have a start
on it and the baking is in full swing.
This Christmas we will be spending Christmas day in Stony Plain at my
Mom and Dad’s with my sister and her family and Boxing Day at our house with
Cal’s brother and family, his Mom and his niece and nephew. We are looking forward to spending time with
family and also to some time off with our own fab 3! The days pass quicker and quicker and before
we know these kids will be teenagers!!
Cal is off for most of the Christmas
break. He has to sneak in a work trip to
Bonyville on the 22nd. He’s keeping busy
at work, working mainly on fibre to the home projects. He completed one of his
long term goals this summer when he finished the full marathon at the Edmonton Marathon! We were all so proud of him; I had tears in
my eyes as he crossed the finish line.
Blake and Emerson ran the last few meters with him and it was an
emotional moment. He’s already thinking
ahead to summer 2016 and his next goal is to beat his 1st marathon
time! He and a group of his November
Project friends have also signed up for the Sinister 7 race in July. It sounds like quite the challenge! We hope to tie our summer camping vacation
into this race and head off to the States or BC from there. Cal is coaching
hockey again and this year the time commitment is slightly more as he is the
head coach of Blake’s Novice rep team.
He’s doing such a great job, the team has improved so much and I think
it’s partly because of Cal’s practice planning and his dedication. Cal is also an assistant Coach for Emerson’s
ringette team. He’s enjoying learning
the game of ringette and sharing his skills with the team and Emerson loves
having him on the ice with her. Cal has
also volunteered for the Bauer First Shift program this fall. It is an ice time once a week, coaching
players who have never played hockey before.
Bauer outfits them from head to toe and then they learn the game of the
hockey! Cal has volunteered for this
program in the past and really enjoys being involved at the grass roots level …
you know, before politics are involved!!
I had a big change this year as I headed
back to work in September. I am working
as an Occupational Therapy Assistant for Alberta Health Services. Although I am employed by AHS, I work on an
Inclusive Learning team for the Edmonton Public School Board. It is a bit
complicated keeping straight who is who and where all my paperwork should go but
after a few months, I think I have it! I
work with children who have mild to moderate delays, in various schools around
the city. Mainly we work on fine motor
skills, concentrating on printing and legibility. I absolutely love my job and
am so grateful that the opportunity arose.
I work part-time and am still able to drive the kids to school and pick them
up, on most days. Kindergarten is ½ days, so Reese attends a day home 3
afternoons a week. The day home is only
a few houses down from the school, so she is picked up at school and then I
meet her back at the school at the end of the day when Blake and Em are
dismissed. It’s worked out really
well. Other than work, I am still
taxiing children around from school to activities; although it is much easier
now that all are in the same school. I
am also coaching Reese’s ringette team and loving being on the ice with her and
her team. I’m so glad my girls are
enjoying a sport that I grew up playing!
And I keep busy with the Parent Council at the school. I am the secretary and really enjoy being
involved in the school community.
Blake turned 8 in May and is nearly as tall
as both of his grandma’s! He is in grade
3 and is doing very well in school. He’s
busy with homework, hockey, swimming lessons and school choir! His downtime is often spent playing NHL ’15
on the Xbox, reading, creating with Lego, and playing mini-sticks! He’s doing great in hockey and loves playing defense. He has a great group of kids on his team! They are kept quite busy with practices,
games, power skating and dryland training.
He loves every minute and we love cheering him on! This spring Blake played lacrosse for the
first time. He loved it and in the
spring of ’16 he wants to play lacrosse and baseball. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to juggle both team
schedules but we will try!
Emerson turned 6 in February! Em is in grade 1 and LOVES school. In fact, she isn’t really keen on being off
from school for 2 weeks for Christmas break!
She switched from tap/ballet to Ukrainian dancing this year and I am so
impressed with how much she has learned in such a short time! She also loves Ringette and is in swimming
lessons. Ringette is once a week and
twice every 2nd week. She has
improved so much and really enjoys herself.
In her downtime, Emerson draws.
She draws probably 5-12 pictures every day! Our fridge is beautifully decorated with her
artwork (and some of Blake and Reese’s!)
Emerson has also recently discovered Shopkins and enjoys collecting them
and watching Shopkins videos on YouTube!!
Reese turned 5 in November and is in
Kindergarten. This is her first year of
French Immersion and she is slowly picking it up! As compared to her brother and sister, she is
quite shy and not keen on being the teacher’s pet or answering every question. But she is enjoying school and making new
friends and her teacher says she is doing well!
Reese’s ringette team plays once a week.
She is doing great and loves each ice time! Both she and Emerson do not like much help
when getting their ringette equipment on, Cal and I have to sit on our hands J Reese is also in swimming
lessons and she recently wrapped up her very first music class. She really enjoyed her music class and learned
quite a lot. Every class she would bring
home her music folder with homework for the week. I was actually learning alongside her! I will definitely enroll her in another
session in the New Year. In her
downtime, Reese enjoys playing babies and Barbie’s. She plays independently very well and we
enjoy eavesdropping on her conversations with her toys! She has a vivid
imagination J
We all enjoyed our summer this year. We spent many days and nights with friends
and family at various campgrounds throughout Alberta. The kids loved spending numerous hours behind
Grandpa’s new boat!! We visited Kananaskis, the Icefields parkway and Jasper
this summer and enjoyed some scenic hikes. The kids did really well this year
and were able to take on some more challenging hikes! The kids also had fun at
their Pedalheads bike camp in July and all three are now 2 wheels which has
been nice for family bike rides! Blake
played in a 3 on 3 hockey league in June, July and August, so even though it
was summer, we still spent some time in the rink! Our nephew Colby also played 3 on 3, so it
was really nice to visit with family during the games and Cal and his brother
even coached a game or two together!
Sending best wishes to all our friends and
family, near and far and thinking of you all during this magical time of year! Merry Christmas and best wishes for a
wonderful 2016!
xoxo
Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson and Reese
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