Double Digits?!

Say it ain't so. Unbelievable. I can't believe our boy has reached double digits. The past 10 years have gone by so incredibly fast, I can't imagine how fast the next 10 will go. Happy 10th birthday to the boy who changed our world and made us parents! We are so proud of Blake and at times I am in awe of this boy! He is kind, smart, handsome, funny at times and serious most often but then he's goofy around his friends :) He's so gentle and caring with his younger cousins and the siblings of his friends, he has a big heart and can be a gentle giant of sorts! He loves his sports, his family and his friends. He is loyal and loving. He's never afraid to try something new and always gives 110% in anything he does.  He's competitive and wants to succeed and do his best in all the sports and activities he tries. We just love him to the moon and back and I really don't want him to grow up so fast!!  We had a great time celebrating Blake's 10th year with a friends birthday party and a family BBQ! One of Blake's amazing traits is his gratefulness. He is always so grateful for everything, from the small stuff to the big stuff and his birthday celebrations were no exception :) We are looking forward to what the next 10 years will bring for our boy! 

An early birthday surprise - attending an Oilers playoff game with Dad!!

The Stecyks and G&G came over for a BBQ and to watch a playoff game :)

Blake's 10th birthday invite!

Blake's buddies celebrating his birthday with him!

Blake loooooved his cake!!

Some of his best buds came over to carry on the party after the party ;) 

April was awesome!

And there goes April ... which I suppose is okay as that means we are 1 more month closer to summer vacation!!!  Here's some highlights from this April:

- lacrosse season officially started and Blake is playing with some teammates from last season and some hockey friends! I am the team manager and looking forward to a great season!

- We had one more hockey event, a Crusaders parents night! We went to Brewsters for dinner, drinks and an Oilers game!  It was a lot of fun and we'll miss these parents!!

- On the 14th Cal and I went to an Oilers playoff game and oh my goodness was it EVER good!!!  So much fun, the arena was LOUD and PROUD!  So glad we had that experience!

2017 Playoffs!!!

- Emerson had her last Ukrainian dance performance at St. Michael's extendicare. She performed her Hutzul dance for the first time and we loved it!

- the lacrosse team attended their first tournament of the year, the Icebreaker tournament at Servus Place (April 21 to 23). Because Blake's coaches are involved with the Jr. Miners, the team got to use their dressing room for the weekend, which was really cool for the team! They had their own stalls and left their equipment there all weekend.

Blake thought it was pretty cool to have his own stall!

Icebreaker tournament - 2017

- On the 24th Emerson's dance group competed at the Veeteretz Ukrainian dance festival. The did great, taking home gold and most promising ribbon for Poltavski Melodiyi and bronze for Hutzulski Deetchoky. It was a fun day with Em and I'm so glad I took the day off to spend with her :)

Emerson with her medals :)

-  Emerson started 3 on 3 ringette on April 25th! After the first game, as she skated off the ice, she said to Cal, "Can I play 3 on 3 next year??" So she's obviously loving it!! The teams seem quite uneven which has made for a few losses but she's not discouraged!!

- Reese began piano lessons again and is enjoying herself although I am having to heavily 'encourage' her to practice at home ;)

- Blake and Emerson began guitar lessons at the end of the month!!  And they are also loving their music lessons but requiring 'encouragment' to practice at home, lol!

- On the 28th the kids and I met the Mauro's at Rogers Place for an Oiler's playoff game viewing party!  We had a BLAST!! The atmosphere was insane, considering we were all just watching an away game on the big screen ;) Friends of ours were were in a suite and invited us up.  It was pretty cool to experience the suite-life!!

- To wrap of April we were very excited to welcome back my Mom and Dad to Alberta!!  We met the Stecyk's in Stony Plain for a welcome back brunch at Mom and Dad's :) 

And that is April in a nutshell!!  Bring on Spring and the sooner Summer arrives the better!!!

xoxo

Tracy

Marmot Basin

On the chairlift

Ski bunnies!!

On  Thursday the 13th, we let the kids play hooky, Cal took the day off work and we headed to Jasper for a day of skiing!  The roads were terrible, we contemplated turning back but realized we were closer to Jasper than to Edmonton so we kept on trucking!  We arrived at Marmot Basin at 9:30 am. We checked in, got our equipment and were on the hill at 10 for our lessons!  The kids had their own instructor and Cal and I were in a group with another couple and an instructor. We all really benefited from the 2 hr lesson and were glad we booked it!  After the lesson we had a great day skiing together and trying different hills. I scared the kids when I suggested we try the express chair lift.  I had no idea it went so fast!!  But in the end all was good and everyone actually wanted to try it again ;) It was an awesome day!  The snow was perfect, new snow was falling as we were skiing and the hill wasn't very busy. I love that we all enjoyed ourselves and hope to get to the mountains a few more times next year!! Before heading home to Edmonton, we had to make a stop at the Bear Paw Bakery in town and take a photo with Jasper the bear :) I'd love to do a multi day ski trip one of these years, another day on the hill would have been perfect! I'm really glad we all enjoyed ourselves and can't wait for more skiing adventures next winter!

Easter 2017

Easter was pretty low key this year. My parents are in the States and it was nice to have a slowish weekend!  I went all out for our Easter Sunday dinner though, I probably had enough food to feed 20 but it was delicious :) Perogies, cabbage rolls, a huge turkey, homemade dressing, etc, etc.  Mmm, mmm, mmm!!! We went to Easter Sunday service at Church and came home to cook, relax and feast!!  On Monday we met Lindsay and the boys for a day at the mall! We took the kids to the indoor playground at Galaxyland and they had a blast! We shopped at Lush and filled up on bath bombs and what not ;) It was a fun day! Happy Easter to everyone, I hope you had a great weekend!

Checking out what the Easter Bunny brought them!

A family selfie before Church!

Easter cuties :)

Decorating eggs on Easter Sunday!

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!!