Family Date!

Today was family date day in our house!!  Blake and Cal had hockey practice early this morning and when they got home we told the kids we were taking them to the Disney movie Frozen and then out for supper.  They were sooooo excited, I love seeing them that way :)  I said, "Hey guys, do you want to go see Frozen this afternoon and then to BP's for supper?"  Blake said, "Whaaaat???!!  Frozen, the movie?!  YEAHHHHH!!!!"  Em and Reese were also bouncing around, excited!  I love, love, love that what we think are 'simple' things, continue to excite them.  We will enjoy that for as long as we can!!!

The movie was awesome, we all enjoyed it.  This was Reese's 1st movie theatre experience and she did great!  She sat in her own seat for a little over an hour and then stood up to stretch out and sit on Cal's lap for the remainder of the movie :)  After the movie we went to BP's and had a nice dinner!  It was a great afternoon/evening!

Tomorrow the kids are in the pageant at Church.  I'm not sure if Reese will participate ... I've brought her to the last 2 Sunday school classes and she has rehearsed but I'm not sure she'll want to participate in front of the entire congregation!!  We'll play it by ear!  Em is ready to go, she knows all her parts, songs, etc and Blake is nervous!!  He has one line, "I is for in God's love."  I will let you know how it goes ... hopefully he can overcome his shyness and deliver his line!!

ttyl :)

Tracy

Grateful

This afternoon Emerson and Reese came up with a really cute game.  They took turns playing Santa Claus!  One girl would pretend to be sleeping on the couch while the other (Santa) hid a toy in her stocking.  Santa would then go back to being herself and wake the other girl up, saying, "Look, look, Santa came!!"  It was soooo sweet and cute to watch them play this game and come up with all the rule's, etc.  One of those moments that make me so thankful that I get to spend every day with them :)

BTW, I've been really behind on my blogging!!  So there will be some post's that will pop up from November that I've been working on but haven't posted, if you want to check some of the back-dated post's, there will be new ones :)

xo
Tracy

Oil Kings Game

You can see the front of Blake, red jersey on the far right!

On Saturday, November 16th, some of the second year Initiation 2 KC St. Matthew's players, played during the intermission at the Oil Kings game.  Blake was one of them!  I was so excited for him!!  Cal was down in the dressing room getting him ready and was able to be on the bench during the short game.  My Dad and I caught the game from the stands!  It was very quick, a few minutes, maybe 4?  But the kids thought it was pretty cool to play on the ice at Rexall Place and enjoyed watching the Oil Kings game!  1 goal was scored and although we didn't see who shot the puck into the net, Blake and some of the other players out there say it was Blake ;)  Quite the experience for the little guys, one we will never forget!

Cheering on the Oil Kings!!

Blake, Dad and I

Celebrating Reese!!

Opening gift's the morning of her birthday!

Cupcakes on her birthday!

Cal rearranged his EDO and took Reese's birthday off instead of his usual Monday.  Reese was very excited to open her gifts from us the morning of her birthday!!  We got a good preview of what Christmas might be like!  She ripped right in to them, it was great!  It was out the door bright and early, as we dropped Blake off at school and headed to the south side.  I had a long-standing appointment to have our van detailed, so Cal and the girls picked me up there and then we went to the Terwillegar Rec Centre for swimming and play gym fun.  The girls had fun swimming, the little fish that they are and enjoyed the indoor play gym.  It was such a cold day!!!  Winter has officially 'hit' Edmonton :s  Next up was lunch and Reese chose McDonald's!  After some time in the McDonald's play place, we picked up the van and headed home.  The girls and I had fun making cupcakes for Reese's birthday dinner and a few extras for her party on the 23rd.  Reese requested spaghetti for her birthday dinner, it is one of her favorites!!  We all had a fabulous, fun day :)  Just wish Blake could have been with us for the entire day.  I would have let him play 'hookie' but that would not have been cool with Blake!!!

On the 23rd we had a birthday party for Reese at our house.  I had asked her if she would like to go somewhere for her party but she wanted to have her party at home :)  We had the Streadwick's, Parenteau's, Stony Plain Cameron's and Grandma and Grandpa D over for an afternoon of playing, pizza and cake!  Reese wanted a Dora Mermaid theme and thanks to Etsy and Ebay I found invitations and an edible cake topper!!  She also loved her Dora balloons and banner :)  I think this was the year that Reese really 'got' that it was her special day!  I could tell that she felt very special and enjoyed all the celebrations!!!  Thank you to everyone for your part in her special day!

xo
Tracy

Family photo at Reese's 3rd birthday party!

Mermaid Dora cake!

Backpack loot bags made by Tracy, Emerson & Reese!

Happy 3rd Birthday baby girl!

Sweet Reese ~ 3 years old

Today you turned 3!  3 whole years!  Your first 3 years have passed unbelievably fast.

We love you more than words could ever express.  Your Dad, sister, brother and I all dote on you and adore you :)  You are so lucky to have 2 of the best older siblings!!  They are so kind and loving and patient with you, it is truly heart-warming for us to see.  You are very close with Emerson and I pray you always stay that way.  Being 21 months apart, I can see the potential for a wonderful friendship and support system amongst the two of you.  You can fight like cats and dogs too but for the most part, you are the best of friends :)  Emerson behaves very 'motherly' towards you!!  Blake has always adored you, right from the first time he met you in the hospital.

You are my little cuddle bug and like to always be close to me.  I find that hard at times but then I stop and think and realize you are already 3 and before long you will be much more independent and I will miss this stage.  I think you have heard us telling people you are shy, because you now tell us, "I'm shy."  You don't open up to people really quickly and prefer to play by yourself when amongst kids you don't know.  But you do play great with your brother and sister and a few of your friends :)  You most certainly are shy, but we're working on helping you break out of your shell a little bit!!  You love Come Play With Me at the YMCA and most especially Miss Christine! Often when we ask you where you learned something, you reply, "At Miss Christine's class!!"  You know most of your colors and shapes and can count to 15 and sing your ABC's!  We definitely don't work on these skills with you as often as we did with your brother and sister!  Sorry about that, but I have a feeling you pick up a lot from Blake and Em and you are a very smart little girl :) You have even picked up some French from listening to Blake do his homework!!  You love to swim and are missing your swimming lessons, since you are not registered at the moment. When we register you again, you will be in unparented lessons.  Dad has been to soooo many parented lessons, it will be strange to not have him in the water with you!!  We recently went public skating as a family and were shocked at how well you skated!!  You fell down and were able to get up all by yourself, we were very impressed!  We can't wait to take you skating again :)  You love to read and I hope that will continue throughout the years.  You like to pull all the books off the book shelf and flip through them!  Sometimes I will find you in your room, on your glider, reading a book :)  You also love to do arts and crafts and looooove any craft involving glue!!  You also love Lego and enjoy sitting at the Lego table with Blake!

We can't wait to explore your third year with you Reesey!!!  We love you to the moon and back and are so proud of the little lady you are becoming :)

xoxo

Mom & Dad

Could it be??

Only 6 more Friday's until Christmas Day!!!  It feels like as soon as Remembrance Day long weekend has passed, Christmas sneaks up on us!  In the past, even before kids, we never decorated until December 1st and now with Reese's birthday on November 19th, we find that still works well.  We have time to celebrate her birthday, take a week or so 'off' and then into Christmas!!  Full swing ... letters to Santa, a visit to Santa at the mall (or one of his helpers!!), baking, gift buying and of course decorating!!  Last year I was lucky enough to get some awesome hand-me-down Christmas decorations from my Mom and I LOVED the way our house looked last year ... I'm so excited to decorate this year!!

The beginning of November has been great.  We've been blessed with really great weather and continue to play at the park after school whenever we can!

On Friday morning we headed to Tisdale, SK for my cousin Dallas' wedding.  Emerson had preschool photo's that morning so I quickly ran her into the school for her photo's and then we were off!  The roads weren't the greatest and were absolutely terrible from Saskatoon to Tisdale (approx. 200 km).  But we made it and I am so glad that Cal was behind the wheel!!  The kids are unbelievable on these long road trips.  I can't believe how well-behaved they are.  We're very thankful!  Only 1 stop each way, on an approx. 1600 km round road trip!  The wedding was nice and it was great to see my SK family.  The kids love spending time with their cousins (2nd/3rd/4th??).  They get a long great and have so much fun, especially this weekend while sitting at the guest book table at the wedding and dancing the night away :)  They were also glad they got to go to the Austin, Ryann and Alex' house to play!  We all had a great visit with my grandparents.  Emerson was sooo excited to see Great Grandma Marg.  It was very sweet, she kept saying, "I can't wait to see Great Grandma, she gives the best hugs!"  And they were all excited to stay at the condo again!!

We have an exciting few weeks coming up with my birthday tomorrow, a 'Smith' family dinner on Friday evening, KC St. Matthew's I2 (a mixture of all I2 teams) playing during the intermission at the Oil Kings game on Saturday evening (Blake is sooooo excited!!), Reese's birthday on the 19th and Reese's birthday party on the 23rd!

It has rained off and on here alllll day.  The roads may be interesting tomorrow morning ... drive safe everyone in and around E-town!

xo
Tracy

Remainder of October

Before we know it, it will be Christmas!!!  7 more Friday's until Christmas ... wow!!

We had a great October, full of school, work, hockey, swimming, dance, date nights, dentist appointments, birthday's, meetings and more!!!

All 3 kids visited the dentist for a check up and cleaning and all 3 did fabulous!  Reese has 2 bottom teeth that have fused together.  I did not know this was even possible!  Our dentist predicts an orthodontist visit in the future but nothing to worry about quite yet!

Cal is playing hockey again this year and had his first game at the beginning of the month.  It's a nice ice time and only once a week, which works well with our schedule!!  This month I finished my kettlebell class.  I've been registering for session after session for almost 2 years now.  I'll miss the class but hope to drop in now and then.  In the meantime, I'm going to make better use of our YMCA membership, going to boot camp and other classes!

The kids swimming lessons finished up at the end of the month.  Blake passed on to the next level, Reese will begin unparented lessons when we register next and Em is going to take the same level again.  The only item not checked off on her report card was an unassisted back float.  She sinks like a stone when she tries to go into a back float!!  If the teacher starts her off and lets her go, she floats like a pro ;)  They're not registered in the next session (much to their dismay!!) but will start up again after Christmas.  They sure love swimming!!

Cal and I were a little bit spoiled this month with a lot of date time!  One night a little shopping, dinner and a movie, another night dinner and an Oilers game and then an afternoon of shopping, dinner with Cal's brother and his wife and the Brad Paisley concert!!  So nice to get out together, it's been approx 6 months since our last date.  Now our babysitter is off to SK for a University placement but she'll be back in January, thank goodness!!!  The kids love her so much, the last time she babysat, she said they danced around the living room singing about how happy they are we went out and they love it when Mom and Dad go out!  LOL!!  The day of the concert, the kids had a great time with Grandma D.  We all went to the Mini Monster Bash in Stony Plain and then she brought them back to our house for dinner and bedtime.

Cal's Mom's 60th birthday was October 9th.  I really wish we would have been able to spend it with her but she is in Grande Prairie and is a busy lady these days.  We were thinking of her though and hope she had some time to herself on her big day - she rarely takes any time off or to her self, Lord knows she deserves it!  She did have a nice dinner and cake at Carmen's that night, which is nice :)

My Dad's birthday was on the 24th and Carmen's birthday was on the 29th!  It's a busy birthday month in our families!!

We celebrated my Dad's birthday this evening.  He was away working on his actual birthday and the kids would not let a birthday go by without a proper celebration!  We had a delicious dinner and carrot cake!  Linds and Connor Facetimed with us during the birthday song :)  When we were leaving Emerson said, "Thanks for inviting me to Grandpa's party, Grandma!!"  Too cute!

On the 28th I accompanied Em's preschool class on their field trip to Safety City.  It was an awesome field trip, the kids learned a lot and we all had fun in the mini-city!  Emerson couldn't believe there was a little Tim Horton's and McDonald's ;)  She also loved riding the battery-operated quads around the little city and following the street signs and lights!!

On the 30th I volunteered at Emerson's preschool Halloween Party, while Mom, Dad and Reese spent the morning together.  It was a fantastic party!!  Those teachers sure put a lot of thought and planning in to their day.  The crafts were so cool and fun!!  Reese had fun with Grandma and Grandpa and later that week told me, "I like Grandma and Grandpa from Stony Plain, they can come to my birthday party!"  Good thing, since they were invited anyways!!!

On the 31st the girls and I joined Blake's class for a few hours during their Halloween party and school parade.  I love that we were welcome to join in!  We had fun and I enjoyed spending some time in Blake's classroom.  Blake was sad because his friend Addison's last day in his class was Halloween Day.  He's had 2 classmates move since the beginning of school and being the sensitive boy he is, he is not fond of someone leaving :s   A few weeks ago when we were driving home from school he said (in an angry voice with a scowl on his face), "When are we moving."  I told him we are not moving and he said, "Good.  Even if we do move, we have to move somewhere so I can go to the same school."  I told him not to worry!  I had no idea why this even came up until 2 days later when he told me (in a sad voice with a sad look on his face :( ) that Addison was moving.  Another life lesson.

Halloween night was great, the kids collected more candy than anyone would ever want and have put a major dent in it (with some help from Cal and I!)!  We also donated a large bowl to TELUS and re-filled our own candy bowl for our trick-or-treater's!!  It was a late night, but tons of good 'ol fashioned Halloween fun running from house to house in the neighbourhood, some time spent with our good friends the Parenteau's and chatting with friends and neighbour's!  We all love Halloween!!!

Hope you had a great October, I see that white stuff on the ground ... looks like Winter is officially here!  So funny how the kids are all excited when it snows and most of the adults are complaining ;)

~ Tracy