Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve was a lovely day.  We started out slow, taking our time getting out of bed and getting ready for the day.  Well, that is the adults in the house took our time!!  I think the kids slept in a bit as well ;) Once we were up and at 'em, we headed to Stony Plain for our Cameron Christmas.  For the past few years Cal's mom and his niece and nephew have come down from Grande Prairie but this year it was just the Stony Plain Cameron's and the Edmonton Cameron's. We decided to make it an appetizer dinner and it sure was yummy!!  The kids and adults had a great time visiting and we opened our gifts from Grandma Bev :) It was a wonderful day! When we left Stony Plain that evening, we rushed home to change into our pj's and head to the family Christmas Eve Church service at our Church.  This is one of my most favorite traditions :) We follow up the service by picking up fast food and checking out Christmas lights!  After Candy Cane lane, we headed home to put out 'Christmas milk' (aka egg nog) and cookies (our homemade sugar cookies) for Santa!  And Em spread her reindeer food :) Then it's off to bed for the kiddo's!  Of course they took forever to fall asleep ;)

Dinner with Gerry, Lesley, Colby & Jenna <3 br="">

Cousins :)

Ready to head to the Christmas Eve pj service at Church, in their new onesie's (delivered that morning from our Elf, Picks Rudolph)!

Christmas Day was sooooo relaxing!!  It was really, really nice. Everyone was so happy to spend time figuring out their new gifts and playing with their new toys.  We watched movies, played games and just chilled. Mom, Dad and Grandma Kelley came by for the afternoon and we had a really great, relaxing time :) I made a turkey roll and perogi casserole (soooo good, I'm craving it now, lol!) and we had Cal's homemade cheesecake for dessert (a Christmas tradition!), all enjoyed on our finest china. Oh and how could I forget the Christmas morning wifesaver we had for breakfast ... and I made the kids cinnamon buns because sometimes they don't care for the wifesaver (however, this year they did!)!

A collage of our wonderful Christmas Day!

Boxing Day we headed to Mom and Dad's in Stony Plain for our 'Smith' Christmas!  We picked up Grandma Kelley before we left the city and were a little later than we expected but we made up for lost time and ripped into our gifts as soon as we got there :) Mom always fills our stockings at her house and we opened those first!  I love all our stocking gifts, so many fun, unique items!!  Thanks Stony Plain Santa ;) We had another great day, playing games, putting Lego together, watching hockey and feasting on a delicious Christmas dinner!!

Mom and Dad with all the grandkids <3 br="">

Our 3 sweeties :)

The whole crew <3 br="">

We hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas festivities and had a wonderful few days!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

~the Cameron's~

It's almost Christmas!!

Our past few weeks have been filled with the usual + a few special events!

On December 11th Reese participated in her first ever piano recital at the Yardbird Suite!!  I knew about this recital for weeks before but did not know that Reese could participate in it until the Tuesday before!  I asked Reese if she'd like to play in the recital and she very excitedly told me she would!  So I signed her up and we bought tickets :) It was a bit of a juggle that day with Blake having a hockey practice, Church pageant practice, Emerson's ringette game and BOTH girls scheduled for ringette pictures!  But we pulled it off like the pro's we are, hahaha. And Reese did amazing!!  She walked across the stage, said into the mic, "My name is Reese Cameron and I am playing Up on the Rooftop", walked to the piano, sat down and tickled the ivories ;) I can't say I really could get 'Up on the Rooftop' from what she played but I was so darn proud of her, I had tears in my eyes!!  After her piece she got up, walked to the centre of the stage and took a bow!  And off the stage she went.  Such a brave girl!!

Ready to perform at the Yardbird Suite!!

Then on the 14th Reese had her Christmas concert!  This year our school decided to split the grades into Christmas concerts and Spring concerts.  100 Voices, grades 1, 3 and 5 all performed in the Christmas concert.  Our music teacher is so incredibly talented and conducts such great concerts, it's always a pleasure to watch and this year was no exception!  I'm looking forward to what the Spring concert has in store for us!

Off to Reese's concert!

On the 16th the kids and I met the Stecyk's and my parents for our annual Santa photo's. For the 2nd year in a row, my Mom booked us into the Santa by appointment at WEM. This is such a great service, more than worth it's cost!!  Santa is so wonderful and this year he really brought the magic of Christmas to my kids :) Blake especially. I think he was really doubting the whole Santa thing but Santa was so good with him and I could see the magic in his eyes!  I had tears in my eyes while I was listening to Santa speak to all the kids!  The photo's turned out beautiful, thanks Mom and Dad for doing this for us all, these will be wonderful memories for all the years to come!!

Ready for Santa pictures!

On the 17th we had 2 Christmas parties!!  First up was the Crusaders party at St. Albert Bowling Alley.  It was originally scheduled for a ranch but with the cold weather, we had to re-locate!  We had fun bowling and had an awesome cake donated to us from another KC rep mom, which was pretty cool!!  The second party was my parents annual DWS Christmas party. We had fun visiting with family and family friends, eating and drinking of course ;) A great day of Christmas parties!!

Crusaders Christmas Party

The 18th was the kids Christmas Pageant at Church!  They did so awesome and were well-practiced from all the previous weeks of practice. Reese played Mary and loved on baby Jesus like he was a real-life baby, Blake played an Angel and had numerous lines throughout the play and Emerson was a shepard. They were all so cute and the play was awesome!  One of the Sunday school teachers wrote the play and I was very impressed. She's a talented lady!!

Ready for the pageant!

On the 20th we had our annual sugar cookie bake-a-thon, baking 5 dozen sugar cookies!!  I must say, my sugar cookies are delicious!!

Decorating crew + some boxes filled for the kids teachers!

Blake had a snowboarding trip with school on the 21st.  He always has a lot of fun on these field trips but this was the first time I wasn't able to go with him. But by all reports he had fun and was safe, he did not go on the chair lift, said he'd wait for me to go with him on the next trip.  I was grateful for that, the chair lifts scare me a little and especially the thought of 3 9 year old boys on the chair lift!!

And now it is the 22nd and Cal and I are off work for two weeks!  The kids have a 1/2  day of school tomorrow and we can't wait to begin the Christmas break :)

Talk to you soon!

~Tracy

It's December!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!  We are gearing up for Christmas and can not be more excited for the events to come and the memories that will be made. Our month has started off with Demonstration of Learning at the school, a ringette tournament and the Oil Kings Teddy Bear toss!  It's been a great few weeks!

Cal couldn't get away from work for the demo of learning so I had all the time in all 3 classes and I have to say, this year was much easier than past years when I've had to juggle 3 demo's by myself ;) The kids being a bit older means they can sit in the hallway and behave while I am in the classroom with 1 of them! We're so proud of all 3 students - everyone is learning, growing and flourishing in their own ways. I love these opportunities to see their classrooms, talk to their teachers and get a better idea of how they are doing in class.

During the first weekend of December, Emerson and the Blue Dragons were in Fort Saskatchewan for a ringette tournament!  Cal brought Em to her first game on Friday morning and then my parents and I attended her 2nd game while Cal went back to work. I snuck off a little early ;) Her third game was on Saturday and we were all able to attend and thank goodness, as she scored her first 2 goals!  She was so excited and proud of herself :) One of her coaches, who we've know for a few years, said he almost had tears in his eyes from watching her on the bench.  She was just so ecstatic, he said he's never seen a happier kid!!  We're so proud of her and the team had so much fun at the tournament!  Friday between games they had a pizza lunch and they also filled two GRIT bags full of donations for the foodbank!!  Their apparel also came in, which was soooo exciting for the team! Matching Triple Flip hoodies and slouchie toques :)  A great tournament weekend for the Blue Dragons!

Last night we attended the Oil Kings Teddy Bear toss with the Mauro family!  We had a blast, it's so amazing to see all the teddy bears being thrown on to the ice!  A great fundraiser for 630 Ched's Santa's Anonymous!  We will try to go every year, if we can!

I can't believe Christmas is coming so fast!! We've decorating the house and have our shopping list's made ;)

Enjoy the hustle and bustle, I'll be back soon!!

~Tracy

Until we meet again

When we first got Heidi - 2005.  They were our babies :)

Sleeping together on their Christmas present!!

It's been one month since our cat Jazz passed away.  It was a very peaceful passing and my only hope is that he didn't suffer. And my only regret is that I didn't let him enjoy outside during the last week of his life.  I thought to myself that I should let him out because he loved being outside but I was worried it ws too cold.  In hindsight, it wouldn't have mattered and he probably would have enjoyed being in the backyard.  Jazz passed away on the morning of November 8th.  I had to take the day off of work, I couldn't stop crying all morning and then I was stressing about telling the kids after school. I decided to pull them out of class early.  They knew Jazz was not doing well and I had told them that Cal and I would be taking him to the vet that morning and that he might go to heaven. So they were semi-prepared. They took the news pretty well.  They had some questions and were sad. That night I finally had to tell Blake that it is okay to cry.  Poor little guy is already such a stubborn man!!!  He finally snuggled into me and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.  And then he fell asleep.  It broke my heart to see him so upset. He and Jazz really connected this past year.  I'm not sure why but I think Blake recognized that Jazz was getting old and maybe needed some help.  Blake would lift him up to his food bowl and every day he would make sure Jazz ate and drank, it was very sweet. Then every single night, Jazz would jump up on Blake's bed and sleep with him.  The first few nights without Jazz, Blake would say, "I have no one to cuddle with." Emerson and Reese were also upset and often mention that they miss Jazz. They'll just randomly say, "I miss Jazz :(" Emerson had to take the iPod to school to show her teacher and friends a picture of Jazz, where as Blake doesn't want to talk about it and Reese is quite matter of fact about the whole thing.  It's so interesting to see their different personalities in each and every situation they deal with in life.

Always at our feet in bed!

Last photo of all 5 of our 'kids' - Halloween 2016

 I have many, many, many memories of our 14 years with Jazz!  Not being a cat person, I didn't really want a cat.  But Dr. Doolittle (aka Cal - I always joke we'd have a zoo if it were up to Cal!) really wanted to bring Jazz home from his Dad's farm.  Bruce had brought Jazz down to the farm from Yellowknife, intent on controlling the mouse population.  And mice were to be Jazz' main form of food.  Bruce wasn't living at the farm at the time but Cal's brother Gerry checked on the farm each week.  Winter was nearing and Bruce asked if we'd like to bring Jazz to our house, as Jazz was likely to not make the winter living outside and catching mice.  As I said, Cal really wanted to bring him home! So we agreed to bring Jazz home, my stipulation being that Cal was in charge of the litter box!!  Bruce planned to visit one evening and was going to bring Jazz to us.  Well turns out, he couldn't find him!  My first thought was, "Okay, phew, escaped that one!!" But no, Cal thought we'd better drive out to the farm and bring him home ourselves! So the next day we drove out and sure enough, we came home with a cat!  Jazz hid for the first week but eventually came out of the basement!  He was quite nasty at times and caused quite a few scratches on our poor nephews face and then later in life, on our kids faces.  But he mellowed significantly, came to trust us and love us.  He became very friendly, cuddly and even needy ;)  Always having to be close to us! Jazz and Heidi had a love/hate relationship but as Jazz mellowed over the years, they seemed to enjoy each other more!  We would often find them laying close to each other or even sharing the big pet bed. So many times, I remember them both laying at my feet. I think Heidi was a bit lost for the first few weeks without Jazz. I often catch her sniffing around and visiting the laundry room (where Jazz' food and litter was). I hope she's not too lonely without him.

Jazz brought so much love to our home and I miss him.  I sometimes think I see him out of the corner of my eye, sitting in the picture window, on the back of the couch or walking into the laundry room when I'm in there.  For many years he slept at our feet and I'll never forget how he liked to lay on my tummy when I was pregnant.  A pet isn't just a pet, a pet is like family.  Family who loves you no matter what, who is always happy to see you and never expects anything but a good pet and food.  He left paw prints on our hearts and we are better for having cared for him.  We love you Jazz, we miss you and will always remember the joy you brought our family! We hope you are laying in the warm sun, chasing mice and eating tuna from the can wherever you may be. xoxo

Such a handsome cat - we called this Jazz' afghan, he loved to sleep on it!

Spoiled - eating oysters from a plate!

Always made himself comfy - sleeping in Emerson's car seat!

Excuse me ... you can not sleep on the table, Jazz!!

November in review

It's mid-December and some how I almost missed a whole month!  Here's a point form breakdown, so as not to make this a 5 page document ;)

- the kids started the month with a sleepover at G&G's on the 5th while Cal and I attended a fundraising dinner and a pub night!  That same morning Emerson had TWO ringette games!  She skated hard and had fun :)
- on the 7th my Mom accompanied Emerson and her class to the Telus World of Science!  Em was so excited to have Grandma with her :)
- on the Remembrance Day long weekend, Blake's team had a hockey tournament in Tofield.  We had a awesome weekend with the team and brought home GOLD!!  The team played so well, it was a real bonding experience spending so many hours in Tofield together ;)  Emerson stayed at my parents house on the Saturday night and they took her to ringette on Sunday morning and then met us in Tofield!
- the 14th was my birthday and it was a busy day of school, work, ringette practice and hockey pictures! #momlife
- on the 17th the birthday present I bought myself, arrived ... a maid!  lol!  I was so excited to have the house cleaned but in the end, was slightly disappointed.  I paid extra to have a 'deep clean' done but the fireplace mantel didn't even get dusted :( Sorry Mad Maids, I won't be hiring you again.  My other birthday present was from my parents and it was $$$ towards my new van tires, which I had installed on the 9th.  And I am really glad I did, as once the snow fell I really appreciated them!!
- on the 19th it was Reese's birthday and I already dedicated a post to that special day :)
- Cal had a quick overnight trip to Vancouver on the 22nd
- on the 25th I had a great day volunteering in Reese's class in the morning, attending the Festival of Tree's with Em's class in the afternoon and then meeting up with some of my favorite Bishop Savaryn mom's in the evening for dinner and drinks!
- the 26th brought the Blue Dragon's first win of the season (in Leduc), followed by a bottle drive!  Blake was on a play date that afternoon and Em had a play date at our house, so Reese and I had a little date at the nail salon :)  She loves having her nails done!!  That night our neighbour babysat and Cal and I had dinner at the Keg and then stopped by a pub for a friends hockey fundraiser!
- we ended the month with a bottle drive for the Crusaders on the 28th!  Thank goodness we had the bottle drive when we did, as not long after the temp's plummeted!! 

Talk to y'all soon :)

~Tracy

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!