March was fun!

I have every intention of updating this blog more often but I'll often log on to do so and then lose motivation ;) Which is why I am extremely grateful for the very detailed calendar I keep!!  I can easily look back and remember all the months have entailed!!  And my gazillion iPhone pics also helps!!  So what have the Cameron 5 been up to in March??  Well, let's see ...

- the month started off with Teachers Convention and a trip to Sunridge ski hill for the Cameron's! All 3 kids skied and LOVED it!!  We decided we definitely need to plan a trip to the mountains! 

- We attended the annual Veeteretz Family Fun night!  A night of perogies, sausage, volunteer bartending and dancing!!  One of Em's most favorite nights of the year and this year did not disappoint :)

- I wrapped up my curling lessons!  I learned a lot and am so glad I took these lessons!  I'd love to do more curling in the future!

- lacrosse evaluations began!

- the Crusaders wrapped their playoff run and attended a year end tournament in Millwoods, winning silver and then celebrating on Sunday afternoon with a NERF war wind-up party :)

- The black kittens wrapped up their season at the Sherwood Park Jamboree!

- The blue dragons wrapped up their season with a few more practices and an awesome year end party at Jumpy Things!

- Cal and Blake attended an Oilers vs Bruins game, Blake's 2 favorite teams!!

- We attended Demo of Learning in the kids classrooms and are super proud of their growth and progress this year :) 

- Cal and I went out for St. Patrick's Day for the first time in maybe ever?!  We donned green and had fun with NP friends, listening to Cal's buddy Jerold and his jazz band!

- the end of the month brought Spring Break!!  We were looking forward to this week off for a very long time :) Cal started the week in Victoria and the kids and I relaxed at home and had a few playdates with friends!

- I ended Spring Break with a girls night out - we attended a 90's concert and had a blast!

It was a great month!!

~Tracy 

Demo of Learning

Oilers vs Bruins

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Skiing at Sunridge on Teachers Convention

Veeteretz Family fun night!

Atom A Hockey: KC Crusaders

Blake and the KC Crusaders had a great year!  We had a fabulous group of kids and parents this year and we all had a lot of fun on and off the ice.  We were together anywhere from 4 to 5 times a week most weeks so we really bonded ;)  Players, siblings and parents!!  The girls had their friends to run around the arena with and I was happy to visit with the mom's and some of the dad's too ;) Cal spent many, many, many hours planning practices, setting lines, worrying, dealing with issues that arose and also a few hours coaching!!  His assistant coaches were awesome this year! The Dad's had a Dad's night before Christmas - poker, Oilers game, laughs and a few drinks ;)  Cal got home at 3 am or something like that and from all reports, they had a really good time! The Mom`s had a few outings - a paint nite, a night out on the town and a brunch. With so many hours spent together, there are way too many highlights to type out a detailed list, so I'll try my best to share them here and in photo's ... We'll start with our first team function, a bottle drive with pizza party!  Then there was a Halloween pumpkin carving party, the Tofield tournament, Oil Kings games, spending hours in a salon getting playoff hair!! A Christmas bowling party, team builder karate night, an awesome 3 on 3 game, dryland training, dinners and lunches out, a wind-up Nerf gun party +more!!! So much fun. I was team manager and although it felt like another part time job, it was a pleasure working with such awesome people. Here's some pics to sum of this wonderful hockey season (in no particular order!)!!!

Dinner at BP's after a game!

Road trip to Tofield!!

Our home base in Tofield, lots of hours spent in this room = good team bonding!!

#1 ~ Tofield tournament champs!

Tofield trophy

Handsome boy - ready for team photos

Christmas party

Family skate!

fab 5

Confed tourney - B side champs

Mom's night out!!

2 Oil Kings players joined a practice!!

Chance of a lifetime - playing on Rogers Place ice!

KC Crusaders Coaches on the Oilers bench

Big screen at Rogers Place

MHW Final!

Silver medal in Minor Hockey Week

Desa Karate night

Cheering on the Oil Kings

Playoff hair

.... more to come ...

U10 Step 1 Ringette: Blue Dragons

This was Emerson`s first year of U10 ringette and she absolutely loved it!!!  So much so that she is now playing 3 on 3 this spring :) She had a great team of girls and a great coach! This was her first year of league play and she loved all the team bonding, apparel, etc!  They had personalized practice jerseys, Triple Flip hoodies, matching toques and of course the team mascot - a blue dragon! 

Here are some highlights from Emerson`s season:

1) Team bottle drive: The girls had so much fun collecting bottles and then playing at the park!
2) PJ Practices: They had pj practices through out the year, always after an early morning practice!  PJ practice = wear your pj`s to practice, wear your pj`s after practice and enjoy hot chocolate and TimBits with your team :)

3) Fort Saskatchewan Tournament: the teams first tournament! They really pulled together during their 3 games and had fun filling two GRIT hockey bags for the food bank and had a blast having a pizza party lunch!

4) Silver Ring Tournament: a great weekend at their home tournament!!

5) Game vs. parents and siblings: the girls had a blast `schooling` their family ;) 

6) Year end wind up party: A fun evening at Jumpy Things, complete with Blue Dragon cupcakes and cookies!!

Proud of the Blue Dragons for filling 2 GRIT bags for the Foodbank!!

1st league game win + a successful bottledrive :)

Team apparel!!

So proud of my Blue Dragon player!!

A great season with the Blue Dragons!!

Active Start 2 Ringette: Black Kittens

Reese had a great ringette season playing Active Start 2!  She loved ringette this year and REALLY loved skating!  She wanted to skate nearly every day, asking to go to the outdoor rink and public skating! She scored a few goals this season and had a big smile on her face the entire time!  She says she might want to be a goalie and enjoyed her turn in net!  Here are some highlights from her season:

1) The Silver ring tournament: a tournament hosted by Edmonton Ringette! Our first tournament of the season and a lot of fun for the team!  Everyone loved the tournament goodies and had so much fun playing in between games :)

2) The Sweetheart Tournament: a tournament hosted by Spruce Grove Ringette and a tournament I played in, my sister still plays in and my mom once organized!! The girls had so much fun bonding at this tournament - we had lunch at the restaurant in the arena and the girls played and made a team poster!  The photo booth is always a lot of fun too!! And my Grandma was here visiting this weekend so it was extra special that Great Grandma Marg got to watch a few games :)

3) the Sherwood Park Active Start Jamboree: A great way to end the season, complete with a team pizza party!

4) Fans Fans In The Stands - the 1/2 time cheer is always so cute and the black kittens rocked the cheer every time :) I always enjoyed seeing all the parents and family members participating and for our family, most especially Blake and Em.  I know seeing her big bro and sis doing this cheer, really made Reese happy!!!

5) and last but not least, our team mascot (photo to follow): Everyone loooooved our black kitten!  I think she was the highlight of every one's season :) The team mascot sits at centre ice during game warm-ups and sits on the bench during games!

Here are some of my favorite photo`s from the season:

Reese scores!!!! (She is in the black jersey!)

Pep talk from Coach Tracy

Reese with her Silver Ring medal

Another shot on net and another goal!!!

Way to go, Reese!!

Team Mascot :)

Fun on the bench at the Sweetheart Tournament!

Taking the goalie position very seriously!

Getting her Sweetheart Tournament medal from Coach Mom!

Sweetheart Tourney team photo

Warming up!

Just taking a little break ;)

Sherwood Park Jamboree :)

A great season with these players and coaches :)

Super cute ringette player!!!

Rest in Peace

Heaven gained an angel on March 9th. My Grandma Kelley, my mom's mom, passed away peacefully in her sleep. I posted a status update on Facebook in a rush of emotion, late at night while I was all by myself contemplating life and remembering  my Grandma.  I think I'll share that here as I feel it sums up my thoughts best. Love you, Grandma. I pray you are at peace and happy.

Facebook post:

"the world lost a very special lady today. My Grandma Kelley passed away and although I am very sad, I know she is in a better place. A place where she has all the spunk and spark back that she's lost over the past few years, reading her gossip magazines, listening to her radio, lighting cigarette after cigarette and mostly letting them burn out!! She was one of a kind and I am so glad for all of our awesome memories - we never had to pack pj's when we visited, we always snuggled up in one of her flannel nighties! And the stuffies, oh how we loved her stuffie collection!! She always sent us on our way with something cool - a trinkette, the entire Fraggle Rock collection from McDonald's, a cool Slurpee cup from 7-11 and always a huge canister of coffee for Mom and Dad (she was a bargain shopper, if it was on sale she bought multiples!!) I could sit around her kitchen table for hours, just reading magazines and listening to the radio. She taught us a lot about life, probably without even knowing it, but I think the most important lesson was one of resilience. She was tough as nails, endured many hardships, a lot of shit (no better way to say it) and always persevered. She was one of the hardest working ladies I know and a woman of few words. She wasn't much of a hugger but I'll miss wrapping my arms around her skin and bones and at the same time wondering why the hell didn't I inherit her small frame!!! lol! I feel like I got her and I think she got me. Oh and one more memory because I often think back to this - at our wedding a group of friends and I were dancing to Grease Lightning and I look over and there's my Grandma, busting a move on the dance floor!!!! Maybe I got my love of dancing from her! She was one of a kind  I love you Grandma and I will hold our memories very close, forever and ever. xoxo Cal, Tracy, Blake, Emerson, Reese and even Hilda the dog (inside joke)"

Happy 8th Birthday, Emerson!!

Emerson's 8th Spa Birthday party!!  Girls showing off their freshly painted nails :)

Emerson turned 8 on the 16th!  Emerson gets VERY excited for her birthday :) She talks about it and counts down for months prior and then the days leading up to her birthday, she is literally vibrating with excitement!!!  She was up before 7 am on her birthday, ready to open her gift and get her day started!!! We baked mini heart-shaped cakes for her class, which she loved helping with.  Her birthday was a Thursday, which is a 1/2 day of school so after school we met Cal, my parents and Mason for lunch at BP's where she had her favorite food - boneless wings!!  After lunch the kids and I met some friends from school at the theatre.  We saw the new LEGO Batman movie, which we all loved!  Then it was home for some relax time before Cal and Blake headed off to hockey practice and Reese and I took Em to her dance performance at St. Michael's seniors home. And we were all excited to get there because my parents had picked up my Grandma Marg from the airport that afternoon and they were meeting us at the seniors home!  Emerson was so excited that her Great Grandma would be seeing her dance :) She had a great performance followed by ice cream at DQ after wards!!  A great day for a special little 8 yo :)

We hosted a birthday party for Em on the 18th. She wasn't quite sure what she wanted to do, we thought we might go to Beaner's for a spa party but she also wanted to have friends over so I suggested a spa party at home and she thought that was the best idea!!  Although I find it easier to have birthday party elsewhere, they love having friends over and I am grateful for that!  We had 8 little girls giggling, playing, singing, dancing, smiling girls in our house!!  My friend Christa and I gave them manicures and helped them put colored hair chalk in their hair, while they applied their own makeup!!  It was a great party, everyone had so much fun and everything went off without a hitch :) Best of all Emerson was happy as can be and had a blast!!

Happy 8th Birthday to our little spunky one who never does anything 1/2 way!! Emerson, you may be small but everything you do, you do BIG with your heart of gold on your sleeve. You make us better parents and continue to teach us lessons everyday.  We love you to the moon and back (& back again)!!  We can't wait to see what year #8 brings you!!  xoxoxo Mom & Dad

~ Tracy 

Ice cream on Em's birthday with Grandma and Grandpa and Great Grandma (right after Emerson's Ukrainian dance performance at St. Michael's long term care)!

Having fun at her spa birthday party!!

Friends from school :)

Careful makeup application!

Gift opening!