Hudson's 6th birthday

We drove to Raymond on Hudson's birthday. We had originally planned to ski at Nakiska on his birthday but the weather didn't cooperate.

We all enjoyed a few days together visiting with extended family.

I brought Hudson's presents with us so he could open them in Raymond and then Mary-Rose made him a spaghetti dinner and an ice cream cake. Our visit even coincided with a visit from Hudson's great-grandmother Cathie so that was nice to share this special day with her.

Jess and the kids having fun with the exposure settings on the camera:

Later during our stay, Paul and Ron built a snow ramp off the back deck for the kids to slide on.

We spent New Year's Eve in Raymond before heading home the next day. The kids loved having their uncle Paul and Uncle John around, as well as their cousins Brinsley and James.

John got quite an arm workout flinging his nieces and nephews onto the couch. My kids aren't light as a feather like Brinsley so it was very kind of him to include them.

A couple days after we got home, we had a "friend party" for Hudson's birthday at a wall climbing gym.

Shae and I worked together to sculpt the fondant for the cake. Hudson's main request for his cake was that it have rope on it so I made sure to add rope around the bottom.

School Christmas Concerts

Hudson and Maira go to the same elementary school but it's an older building with a very tiny gym so they have the Kindergarten concert on a different day than the rest of the school and they rent the auditorium in a very large church for the Grade 1-6 concert. And Connor goes to a different elementary school which means we are super lucky and got to go to three different Christmas concerts this year.

First, we went to Hudson's. It was short and sweet with the morning and afternoon classes joining together on the risers to sing a few Christmas songs including one I remember from my childhood, the French version of Jingle Bells: Vive le Vent.

The following week, we went to Maira's concert. The grade 1's and 2's put on a play about a Gingerbread Man and Maira played the role of the Grandmother who baked the cookie. She had a couple pages of lines to memorize and she sang a solo as well. I posted the video separately but here are a few photos. She's wearing a brown floppy hat and a red apron.

A couple days later, it was time for Connor's concert. His school didn't do a play this year, rather it was a series of songs.

Christmas 2014

 On Christmas Eve, my mom and her boyfriend, and my sister's family came over to share some treats, sing some songs, and, as has become our tradition, the kids acted out the nativity.

Joseph and Mary:

The shepherd's with their adorable little lamb:

Connor's look of terror as the angel appears:

Mary and Joseph inspecting the gifts brought by the wise men:

And the lamb got tired of staying by the manger:

After the guests went home, the kids opened up their Christmas Even gifts: the usual matching jammies, as well as a story to read. I read it first but then Connor wanted to have a turn reading it too. It is a pretty fun book to read.

Christmas morning:

A couple of my favourite presents: a vintage, super-warm wool Hudson's Bay blanket:

And this portrait of Hudson that Shae drew with pastels from a photo of him when he was two, wearing a bike helmet:

 In the afternoon, we drove out to Spruce Grove for a delicious Christmas dinner at my mom's house.