Christmas

So, our computer broke down after my last post and my iPod broke the same week so I was going through a bit of internet withdrawal for a while there but happily, we our now back online (with 3 new computers to replace the one that broke - long story). And so I can finally update my blog!

We had a really really nice Christmas at home and here are a few of my favourite pictures.

First, trimming the tree:

Hudson helping with the lights

The younger three each took turns putting the star on at the end:

I think Jess left the lens open on this shot to make the light streak like this:

And this one just because it was taken during the month of December and it's cute: it's Hudson playing in a couch fort that Jess built for him.

Now these pictures are from Shae and Connor's school Christmas concert. Connor's kindergarten class went up on stage first and sang a couple of cute songs:

Then after all the songs were done, the grade 6 classes performed a musical called "The Christmas Chronicles". Shae tried out for the role of the fashion/food reporter at the newspaper and she was thrilled to get the part. The play told the story of a newspaper called "The Bethlehem Chronicle" that is threatened with closure unless they get a big story and of course, one of the reporters moonlights as a shepherd to make extra money and he sees the angels and goes to Bethlehem so this big "scoop" saves the paper. It was a very Christ-oriented play which surprised me in our politically correct times. The whole play was great, the kids all did a great job (especially Shae, of course!). Here are a few pictures but when I have time, I'm going to put up the video of the play, Jess recorded the whole thing.

And finally, here are some pictures of the kiddos on Christmas Eve (telling the story of the nativity with some of our nativity scenes) and on Christmas morning.

Shae Turns 11 and Other Stuff...

Shae's 11th birthday fell in the middle of a giant blizzard. But despite the storm, all 7 of the friends she invited turned up for a party at our house.
This is the "purse" cake Shae requested, along with some rather droopy divinity for her friend with celiac disease.


I can't believe how grown up she is getting. She's becoming a very mature young girl who is responsible and friendly. She cracks me up with her funny mannerisms and jokes and she's starting to develop strong interests in art and drama. She is busy rehearsing for her school Christmas play in which she has a lead role and that's been a lot of fun for her. She gets to play a Martha Stewart type character, I think it'll be pretty funny.


Shae has also decided she LOVES sock monkeys so for her birthday, I got her a sock monkey kit and I also knit her this hat:


Aside from celebrating Shae's birthday, we've also been busy around here with general Christmas busy-ness.

Here's Shae helping with the gingerbread cookies:


And the kids playing with their Grandpa on one of his work visits (Connor is on there too, behind Hudson!):

Hudson has started walking now and he's getting into all sorts of mischief/learning experiences. He loves to pull out the pot drawer, toss all the pots out onto the floor and then climb in himself. It's even funnier for me because Maira used to do the exact same thing at that age.

I've been busy over the past month or two with all kinds of sewing projects. Here are a few of the things I have made:

A pencil roll - I made one for Maira and one for my niece, Lilia.


I specifically chose the matrushka fabric for the roll because Lilia's dad, my brother, served his mission in Russia.

And this is a quilt kit I put together for my Mom (don't look Mom!) Not that she'll be surprised since she bought the kit a few years ago at the quilt store in Canmore (Sugar Pine Company), but hadn't got around to making it so she asked me if I would make it for her for a Christmas present:

Here's a hat I knit (I love cables!):And here are some pajamas I made for the kids:

This first pair is from a Michael Miller fabric called Bot Camp - it's such fun fabric because it's full of all kind of scenes of robots going camping, I love it.


And here is the first of 4 pairs of jammies I made for the kids to wear on Christmas Eve:
(Of course, the boys will be in blue, not pink!)

And speaking of jammies, Connor has decided lately that he wants to be a train robber when he goes to bed so this is the outfit he has decided he needs to wear to bed each night (the pajama bottoms even have trains on them):


And finally, a typical day with Hudson around:
Sadly, when I first found him here, he was actually inside the cupboard happily dumping cereal all over the place but when I laughed and ran for the camera, he crawled out. He gets into one mess after another - my time is spent leaving him be so I can get things done and then going to see what mischief he's been up to and cleaning up after it. And then repeat the process again. And again....

My Other Little Monkeys

We just got back from our annual trip to Banff. The hotel we stayed at was attached to a rec centre with a climbing wall and Shae was excited to go climbing there like she does every year. She has a real knack for climbing. She went climbing for the first time when she was 8 and loved it. Once again, the staff member who was belaying her commented on how fearless and agile and strong she is. It's just too bad there isn't a climbing gym closer to our house because she sure loves being up there.
























And this was the first year Connor was old enough to do more than a bit of bouldering around the bottom. He got to go in a harness for the first time and he was clambering to the top of the wall in no time. Completely fearless. He loved it too so now I've got another little monkey in the family!



































And of course Maira will be scaling those walls in no time but for now, she had to content herself with holding the rope while Connor got lowered down after a climb.
























And here we are at the top of Sulphur Mountain after riding up on the Gondola (Hudson stayed back at the hotel with Grammy and Jess was at his conference).

Halloween

This was the first year Shae decided to be something creepy instead of something pretty for her costume. And looking at these pictures, I think she ended up looking really creepy, like maybe too creepy...














































Shae's wearing my actual wedding veil, along with an old negligee of my mother's, and a bouquet of dried roses and black thorns.

Maira opted for the pretty type of costume and dressed up as a fairy:































































I got the idea for her tutu from a tutorial on Grosgrain

And Connor wavered between being a bank robber or a knight - Jess and I persuaded him to be a good guy instead of a bad guy. As long as he got to carry a weapon, he was good with that.














































I had fun playing with my new set of craft glitter to paint the dragon on the back of his cape:















The kids had fun trick-or-treating (of course) although Maira decided she was done after about half an hour because she didn't want to wait another minute to sit down and start eating all her candy. So she came home early and her bag is a lot lighter than Shae and Connor's.














Here's a picture of our neighbour's front yard without the snow and with all the decorations in place.














A couple weeks ago, their yard was vandalized and someone stole all their tombstones. Although they were upset, I love that they decided to make new even funnier tombstones. Here's Connor having a sword fight with the dad/zombie who lives in there...























And finally, here's the black light alley that one neighbour created in their front walkway with some appliance boxes, and a bunch of glow in the dark paint: