Reesey

Miss Reese is almost 3!  She is quite the little character :)

Here are some of her favorite phrases: "I don't need you Mom!"  "I can do it myself!"  "NO!"  "I want to wear a dress!" "That's MINE!" ... needless to say, Reese is a very determined and stubborn little girl!  She knows what she wants and prefers to do everything all by herself.  Which is great, I love her fierce Independence ;)  Although hearing, "I don't need you Mom!" a gazillion times a day, does sometimes pull at my heartstrings!!!  Yes my dear, you do need me.  Sorry, but you will always need your Mom ... trust me, I know!

She's so darn cute, I want to squeeze her every minute of every day!  She has followed in her sister's footsteps and insists on wearing a dress every.single.day.  I'm just glad that the dresses don't necessarily need to be twirly, I can pass off a tunic as a dress!  And no matter the weather, she will NOT wear a coat or sweater!!  "I'm not cold Momma."  Even though I explain that it is cold outside ... doesn't matter!  

Reese makes us laugh and smile every day.  She is so funny, it is just plain awesome ;)  Her facial expressions are so animated, it is very entertaining!  She loves to do 'tricks' and says many times throughout the day, "Mom, watch my tricks!"  or I will be trying to get her out the door or to bed or out of the bathtub and she will say, "Okay Momma, I just have to show you my tricks."  These tricks include jumping, 'swimming', rolling, balancing on one leg, dancing, twisting, hanging off the island in the kitchen, and laying on the back of the couch, to name a few!!!  She always completes these tricks and then looks up at you with a big grin, sooooo proud of herself!!

Reese seems like a very smart little girl!  Of course we think she is, being her parents, but I do find that her speech and vocabulary is advanced for her age!  People have always remarked on how well she speaks and we agree!  She loves to count and knows most of her colors.  She has an amazing memory and surprises us at times with her recall!

Reese is in swimming lessons right now and still really loves the water.  She is still in parented lessons but we think she will be more than ready for unparented lessons once she is 3.  I also still take Reese to Come Play With Me at the YMCA, at least once a week.  She loves this class and her teacher, Miss Christine!  She often asks to go to Miss Christine's class and also will tell us, "I learned that at Miss Christine's class!" ;)  I've also started taking Reese to the childminding at the YMCA.  She loves it there and enjoys seeing Grandma Jan!!  They love her too and she has so much fun.

It's funny how each child is so different!  I always like to joke that anything Blake and Emerson didn't do, Reese will do!  She keeps us on our toes, that is for certain ;)  At bedtime she will often ask me, "Will you sleep with me Momma?"  It is so sweet, I want to just jump in her bed for the night!!  Love her to pieces :)

Grade 1

Tuesday was Blake's 1st day of Grade 1!!

He was very excited on Tuesday morning, almost giddy :)  He ate the biggest breakfast we've ever seen him eat and was in the best mood ever!!!

Cal and the girls dropped Blake and I off at school on Tuesday morning and much to my surprise, there was a long line up outside the school.  It didn't take long to get inside, find Blake's name on the classroom list and find his grade 1 classroom!  We met his new teacher, Mme. Khair, and he was very happy to see his kindergarten friends!  Many of his kindergarten classmates are in his Grade 1 class but he was most especially happy to find that his best buddy Max is in his class!  I took a few pics and left for the day.  I loved seeing the big smile on his face, so happy to be back at school!

Wednesday morning ... different story.  He didn't want to go to school!  Thursday morning, no problems, then again on Friday morning ... didn't want to go to school.  His reasons for not wanting to go include, "I don't like recess; School is too long; I don't get to sit on the carpet like in Kindergarten."  And on Friday morning, he balled his fists, got tears in his eyes and said, "Fine but you guys can't do anything today.  You have to stay home." So what he's saying is, the girls and I are NOT allowed to have any fun while he's at school!!!  I explained that when the girls are his age, they will also be in school and that he had many fun play dates and fun at home with us when he was 2 and 4, just like Reese and Emerson!!  He was fine once he got to school on those 2 days that he didn't want to go and every day when I picked him up, he was happy as can be!  He hugged the girls and I, gave me his backpack and rushed off to the park to play!  We were staying at the park after school for an hour or more each day.  It was fun, nice to visit with the other mom's and we definitely need to take advantage of this wonderful weather while it's still here :)

Blake has always taken awhile to adjust to new situations, never one to jump right in to anything.  So I am sure it will take a few weeks to get completely used to and comfortable with grade 1, his new teacher and his new classmates :)  

We're excited for Blake and this new adventure in Grade 1!  He is an eager beaver when it comes to learning, soaking it all up.  We can't wait to watch him learn and grow! 

Here are some photo's from his first day:

September 3, 2013

Our sweethearts :)

One last pic on the step, then off to school!

Found his desk, ready for Grade 1!

Au revoir Summer 2013!

We've spent the last week at home and it's been really nice!

Mon, Tues and Wed, Reese and I spent all day at home with Reese in underwear.  I thought we should at least try to potty train her, seeing as she's turning 3 in November.  We would have tried earlier but we were not home enough this summer!!  But, turns out she's not quite ready!  She would go in the potty if I reminded her or sat her on it multiple times an hour but she didn't pick up on when to go by herself!  If I left it up to her, she would stand and say, "Mom, I'm peeing!"  Blake and Em picked it up super fast so I think she's just not quite ready.  I'm not going to wash loads and loads of underwear and clothes for the next month until she 'gets it', I'll just wait a month or so and try again :)  I'm a big believer in the 3 to 4 day potty training method!!  She still wears underwear around home sometimes, as she asks for it!  So should be soon!!  I can't imagine a diaper-free home?!  It's been over 6 years of 1 or 2 kids in diapers in our house!!  And I think I forgot to mention that we are finally a crib-free home ;)  While the kids and I were in SK, Cal put together Blake's old single bed, for Reese!!  We came home and the crib was gone!  Reese was pretty excited and really liked the butterfly bedding I had bought for her!  She is a little monkey, getting out of her bed, coming into our room in the middle of the night and even opening Blake and Em's door and climbing onto Blake's bunk!!!  One night Emerson came into our room and told me that when she was going to the bathroom she seen Reese's door open.  I looked in and Reese was curled up sleeping but I have no idea what she did before that, but I know she didn't just open the door and go back to bed!!  So I warned her that I will put a child proof door knob on the inside of her door if she keeps getting out of her bed.  Every night at bedtime she would say she wouldn't get out of her bed but she always did!!  So we put a child proof door knob on the inside of her door!  She wasn't happy but I'd warned her!!  She now calls for us if she needs us!  I tell ya, whatever Blake and Em did not do, Reese does!  They never got out of their beds or their rooms!  I guess she doesn't want us to miss out on these experiences ;)

Monday and Tuesday we played around home but I could tell Blake and Em were getting cabin fever so I called in some Grandma D back-up!!!  My Mom took them out on Wednesday.  They had a blast, visiting the Lego store and lunch out with Grandma :)

Tuesday evening was Emerson's preschool orientation.  It was nice to see some familiar faces and chat with my preschool peep's :)  I'm on the board this year, which I'm looking forward to!  Emerson's first day of preschool is September 12th.  They do a staggered-entry, so she'll go on the 12th and then on to the regular schedule the following week (Mon, Wed, Fri morning's).  At first she was nervous about going back to preschool and sad that her friend Samantha won't be there (she's in KG this year) but now she says she is excited ;)  She loved it last year so I have no doubt she'll enjoy it this year!

Wednesday afternoon we aborted operation potty train Reese and headed to the park!  Cal took Friday off and took Blake and Em to the Disney movie "Planes!"  They enjoyed the movie!  Reese and I went for lunch with my Mom and Dad while they were at the movie.  Wednesday evening my Mom and I went out for dinner with my Grandma and afterwards I spent some time with her at my Aunt and Uncle's.  It was really nice to visit with her and just hang out!  She's not very chatty so a lot of the time is spent not saying much, but that is okay.  It's nice to just be together.

Saturday we met Eric and Berlyn at the Valley Zoo.  It was a hot morning/early afternoon but lots of fun!  The kids love our little zoo, especially seeing the monkeys and Lucy the elephant!  Saturday night we had the Parenteau's over for a backyard fire/hot dog roast/smore roast.  It was a lot of fun!  Hopefully we'll be able to have 1 more backyard fire before winter arrives!!

Sunday we headed to Build A Bear in WEM for some accessories for Sam, Honey Bear and Rosie :)  The kids love Build A Bear and so do I - such a fun place!!  The mall was NUTS though, so we got outta there pretty fast!!  We went to Mom and Dad's for a visit and bbq.  My Aunt, Uncle and Grandma also came for dinner and it was really nice to visit with everyone.  Mom and Dad are off on their September vacation tomorrow morning.  We always miss them but wish them a fun, relaxing vacay!

Hard to believe our baby boy starts grade 1 on Tuesday!!  He seems to be excited!  We have all his supplies labeled and ready to go!  Lunch plans made, clothes picked out :)

I'll do a back to school update soon!  Wishing everyone who is returning to school a great first day :)

xo
Tracy

Beautiful Jasper

We spent the 19th to the 22nd in Jasper.  Jasper is one of my most favorite places :)  We had a great time with my Mom, Dad, sister and nephew.  We visited Athabasca Falls, Maligne Canyon, Mount Edith Cavell, went for dinner and ice cream in town and enjoyed some time at Whistler's campground!  Blake and Em attended a kids interpretation program at the campground, put on by Parks Canada.  It was awesome, I tagged along and actually learned quite a bit ;)

The kids enjoyed themselves in Jasper, they really love the waterfalls and this year really enjoyed hiking!  We look forward to next year and planning a longer hike.  Cal still needed to carry Reese quite a bit but I think by next summer she'll be able to walk a little more.  Reese kept asking, "Can we go up a mountain?"  lol!  Over and over and we continued to tell her that we were, in fact, already on a mountain ;)  As we drove around Jasper and area, Emerson and Blake liked to ask if we were in Jasper but by the end of the trip they had differentiated between the town of Jasper and Jasper National Park!!  Em remarked many times, "Jasper is my favorite place!"  The mornings and evenings/nights were VERY chilly but the days were nice and warm.  We can't wait to visit again!  

This was our last camping trip of summer 2013.  We have had an amazing summer with many fabulous friends and family!!  It's been great visiting with everyone and spending so much time in our new trailer.  We can not wait for next camping season and have plans in the works already ;)  

The rest of our summer will be spent at home, doing some fun things around the city and getting ready for back to school!

Talk to you soon ;)

~ Tracy

Camp week!

This week Emerson is in a Jitterbugs camp at the YMCA and Blake is in a hockey camp at the Castledowns arena, ran by Edges.  I've also signed Reese up for some time in the child minding room at the YMCA.  So I've been dropping Em and Reese off and going to work out!  After I pick Reese up, we head over to the arena (which is attached to the Y), watch some hockey and then we all pick Em up at noon.  It's been really nice!

Reese is loving the childminding room, she doesn't want to leave when I go to pick her up ... At first I had her booked in for 1 hr but I've changed it to an hour and a half since she loves it so much!  That also gives me time to shower ;)  In September I'll be taking her to the child minding room and working out every Monday and Wednesday morning, I'm looking forward to it!

Emerson is enjoying Jitterbugs!  They've gone swimming once now and will go again on Thursday. And there's a dance party on Friday that she is excited about.  Blake's having fun at hockey camp although he's been a bit under the weather this week, poor guy.  I think he's just really tired from all our travels and the late nights that have come with visiting and camping.  We ran in to a friend of ours at the arena, her son is older and is in a camp on the other ice surface.  It was really nice to visit with her and her handsome sons!  They are such nice boys.

In the afternoons we've been playing in our yard and at the park.  We had a nice park picnic this afternoon!

We're getting ready to head to Jasper on Monday morning.  We can't wait!!  We love Jasper and are excited to spend the week with my Mom, Dad, sister and nephew :)  I can't wait to breathe in the fresh mountain air :)

~Tracy

Road Trip to SK!!

Thursday morning the kids and I loaded up the van and hit the road!!!  Our destination - Tisdale, SK and most importantly, Grandma Marg and Grandpa Art's condo :)

I wasn't too nervous about the trip with the kids all by myself but I have a tendency to not worry or think things through and then when the day comes realize I may just be in over my head ;)  But that was not the case this time around!!  They were so good, I was very impressed!  8 1/2 hours in a vehicle is tough on anyone, never mind a 6, 4 and 2 yr old!  I have what I guess you could call a 'road trip strategy' ... as far as watching DVD's, playing on the iPad's, playing road trip games, taking breaks, etc!!  It worked really well this trip and I think the kids knew (thanks to my warnings ;)) that they'd better behave ;)

We had a fabulous time in Tisdale.  I was SO glad we went.  The only thing that would have been better, would have been if Cal could have joined us but with all the holiday time we had planned this year and him covering for his manager, he stayed behind.

My Aunt took us to visit our old Smith family cabin at Marean lake on Friday morning.  It was great to visit there, I have so many great memories from spending time at Marean during summer holidays but it was a little bit sad to think that, that chapter is over.  I am thankful for all those wonderful years in which we were blessed with that little piece of heaven on earth!!  It truly is a gem and hard to describe unless you've been there yourself.  I only wish we could find something similar, close to us but the cost of something like that near Edmonton would be extremely expensive!!  On our way home from the cabin we stopped in a tiny town for lunch and to browse their new gift shop.  It was fun, the kids each found a little toy :)

Friday night we had a BBQ at my Aunt's house.  A few of my cousin's and another Aunt came, it was great to visit with everyone and the kids had a blast playing with the Labelle's (my cousins kids)!

The kids loved spending time with the Labelle's, they were pretty upset when I had to drag them back to the condo after spending the afternoon playing at their house!  We took Grandma and Grandpa for supper on Saturday night, in the condo dining room.  Their condo is so nice and the amenities are fantastic. They can go downstairs for coffee, snacks, meals, card games, etc almost any time of day.  It's wonderful!  And the fact that we can rent a room there is even better!  We've rented the same 2 bedroom suite for November when we return for my cousin's wedding.

We spent lots of time with my Grandma and Grandpa, which was the main goal of our visit.  Their suite is small but spacious at the same time if that makes sense?!  Their furniture fits well and it works with the space!  We loved having breakfast their and visiting each morning.  The kids played cards with Great Grandma, which brought back a ton of memories of my sister, cousins and I playing cards with Grandma when we were young :)  One of my favorite memories of all time is playing golf and nickles with Grandma Marg and Grandpa Art :)  We're looking forward to visiting again.  It's nice it won't be too long between visits, I miss everyone so much but have found it really difficult to make the drive these past few years.  I'm also glad the kids will remember everyone, with the 2 visits closer together.

It was a tiring few days with the long drives and solo bedtimes but I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Thanks to everyone in Tisdale for your help and hospitality, we will see you in November!!!!

xo
Tracy

Camping, camping and more camping :)

We are making good use of our new 'house' on wheels ... and loving every minute!!! 

From the 26th to the 29th we were at Carson Pegasus Provincial Park.  The Hrdlicka's joined us on the 27th and despite the rain and chilly weather we had the best time!!  Candace is one of my oldest and dearest friends but with college and then her career taking her away from the Edmonton area, we rarely get to spend more then a few hours together.  Before marriage and children, one of my favorite weekends away was to her house!!  But since then, we only get the odd visit in.  So, I was super excited to spend the weekend with her and her fam!!  Our kids get a long so, so well, they are so much alike it is almost scary!!  Nicholas and Blake are best buds and Presley and Emerson are becoming fast friends.  Carson and Reese are a little young yet, but Reese played awesome with all the kids and Carson was the best baby I've ever seen :)  Brandon and Cal get along great too, which makes their wives very happy ;)  We've started planning next years trip!

We got home on the Monday and had two days to unpack, do laundry, buy more groceries and re-pack for our August long weekend trip to Cross Lake Provincial Park!  We were at Cross Lake from August 1st to the 5th. We spent the weekend with my sister and her family, my parents, the Streakwick's and two other families whom I know through Jer and Linds!  We had another fantastic weekend!  The weather was great, the kids had a blast playing with all the other kids (12 total) and the adults had a great time too!!  Blake was very excited when he found out Uncle Jeremy was bringing his boat.  Blake loves fishing and got to spend some time on the lake, which made him very happy!  Emerson found a new passion for picking wild berries!!  She found wild strawberries and blueberries ;)  We continued our group camping trip tradition of appetizer night - no one starves on these trips!!  lol!  It was a great long weekend and hopefully we'll all get out together again next year - we might add a few more sites to our May long weekend reservations ;)

We are so happy with our new trailer!  I can't even say how much I love it!!!  I just love it ;)  Definitely don't regret this purchase!!  We have two more camping trips planned - 4 days in Jasper at the end of August and 2 days at my parents lake lot on September long weekend.  And we may get out 1 more time in September!  I love camping with my family so much and it is so good for the kids.  Can't wait to make many more memories in our new trailer :)

In between camping trips, we've been enjoying fun play dates and some downtime at home.  On the 24th of July the kids and I had a blast at K-Days with my Mom!  Blake and Em love playing all the carnival games but don't enjoy the rides (other then the ponies)!  Grandma made sure everyone won a stuffie and in fact, they each came home with an armful ;)  Blake started off the day feeling under the weather.  It came on suddenly but thankfully we found a lady who had some Advil in her purse and he perked up after a dose.  Although he is still not quite feeling like himself :s  Poor guy.

On the 25th we enjoyed a visit from Cal's Mom and Grandparents.  We are so grateful Bev was able to bring Grandma and Grandpa Alstad down to visit us!  It was great to see them and Bev!  It's been about a year since we were in Grande Prairie but we're looking forward to heading up there in December for Cal's cousin's wedding! 

Today we went to the Parenteau's for another pool party!!  The kids LOVE splashing around and swimming in Berlyn's pool!  It's a great time!

On Thursday the kids and I are headed to Tisdale, SK for a visit with my grandparents, aunt's, uncles and cousins.  I can't wait to see everyone!!  We haven't been there for a very long time, too long and this visit is wayyyy overdue!!  

Talk to you soon, please send me positive travelling vibes and prayers for our long 8(ish) hour drive to SK!!!  I just may be crazy for taking on this long drive by myself with 3 kids ... ;)

xo

Tracy