Our little girl is on the move!

I can't believe how quickly Jenna moves these days! She has been "creeping" for quite a while now, but once she began crawling, there's no stopping her now! She loves chasing around after Colby and playing with him. I adore watching them play together! She has been pulling herself up on anything and everything in sight, including standing in her crib now, climbing onto the treadmill, up to Colby's train table (and stealing trains... which he is not a fan of!), to the couch, and the list goes on...... She's walking a lot when holding onto our fingers, so maybe she'll be an early walker too?!

Jenna has made a great transition from baby food to eating our food... and I'm loving it! She's mainly eating everything that we eat, just without sauces, etc. She loves feeding herself, which makes it a bit easier too. She loves fruit, yogurt, bread (must be my girl!!)... everything, really! :)

We've had a busy week already and it's only Tuesday! Yesterday, Cal, Tracy, Blake and Emerson came over for a visit mid-afternoon and the kids stayed here for a while when Cal and Tracy went to pick up their new minivan! Colby and Blake play really well together and Emerson fits in there perfectly with the boys and Jenna too! It was busy with the four kids, but we had a lot of fun playing outside. They all stayed for a yummy steak dinner too. Thanks for the visit, Edmonton Cameron's! :) Today, I watched Connor (my cousin Leanne's little guy) all day. Colby and Connor are inseparable when they're together, so it was a great day of playing and fun at the park. We went to Kristy's for lunch and more playing in the backyard before heading home for naptime. Can you believe all 3 kids slept at the same time?!? Woo hoo!! :) Okay, the overlap was not really all that long, but still... there were a few minutes of quiet!

We are leaving tomorrow evening for Gull Lake until Sunday. A great little extra-long weekend camping trip! Gerry took Friday off, so he's staying the entire time too, which is great. Tomorrow, the kids are going to Kristy's for a little while around lunch time so I can attend a Retirement Luncheon for one of the teachers at my school. Susan Fulmore is an incredible teacher who has so much wisdom and guidance to share! Her passion for literacy is infectious and she makes me want to become a better teacher and continue to work on my programming. She actually taught Gerry grade one at Forest Green School!!! (From what I hear, he was a bit of a trouble maker back then too!!) LOL! I'm really going to miss her and our lovely chats and her endless positive energy, but wish her a wonderful time in her retirement! Hugs to you, Susan!!

Have a great rest of the week, everyone! Enjoy Canada Day with family and friends!

xoxo
Lesley

Father's Day Weekend!

Our little Jenna turned 9 months old yesterday! I took her to be weighed and measured today and she is slowly, but surely continuing to gain weight. She is gaining about 1/2 pound every month and is now up to 17 lbs. 8 oz. and about 27 1/4" long. I find it really hard to measure her length... she's kind of a wiggle worm! All in all, doing great, I'd say! :)

We had a great weekend! I went to Jubilations on Friday night to the production "Greased"! It was a lot of fun with 11 other fabulous ladies. We hit the road bright and early Saturday morning for Grande Prairie. We got there at noon, so we had plenty of time to visit. The kids did alright... Colby was fine, but Jenna is not a great traveller. She hardly napped at all, so that didn't help. It was great to visit with Gerry's Grandma and Grandpa Alstad for a few hours, then to see both of Gerry's sisters for a little while too. We had a nice dinner with Gerry's mom and she took us out for ice cream after dinner! Colby loved it and had his strawberry sundae up to his elbows!! Jenna enjoyed her first little taste of ice cream on her soother... thanks, Grandma! :) After the kids were in bed, Gerry and I headed over to Carmen and Darren's house for a visit. They were having a block party, but it was nice to see them and their close neighbor friends. The kids were up bright and early on Sunday morning (sorry Grandma and Grandpa!!) and we went to watch Dylan's baseball game. Colby LOVES Dylan and had a great little picture afterwards with him... "on the baseball field". He thought that was pretty neat! We visited with Kathy and the kids back at the house and then hit the highway just after noon. The kids did much better on the way home... leaving just before nap time was definitely key! :)

We got home, unpacked, and then headed over to my parents' house for a Father's Day dinner with my family. Happy Father's Day to all of the Dad's in our lives! We love you!!

I always knew that Gerry was great with kids... nieces, nephews, and kids of our friends. But it is amazing to see him every day with our own children! He is such an wonderful, caring, loving, and fun daddy and I know Colby and Jenna are so incredibly lucky to have you in their lives! You are truly wonderful Ger... we all love you so very much!! xoxo

Have a great week, everyone!

Lesley

Loving life!

Some fun events in our lives lately...

- Kristy and I took the kids to the International Children's Festival in St. Albert. Colby LOVED riding the bus, seeing "real" firemen and a fire truck, seeing all the people, and watching Bobs and Lolo on stage for a bit. I hope to go next year... he was still a bit young for it this year.

- I had the pleasure of attending the 2010 YWCA Women of Distinction Awards Gala. It was a great event and I'm so proud of Jen, who won this year's award in the category of Athletics, Recreation, and Fitness!

- Farmer's Days 2010!! To follow tradition, we watched the parade and had a BBQ at my parents' house after on Saturday. Colby loved the parade and enjoyed seeing the floats, horses, tractors, police cars, and the fire trucks! It was too late to head to the grounds on Saturday afternoon, so we went on Sunday instead. It was great! Very well laid-out this year and Colby had a blast on a few of the rides and the Kids' Zone! I'm really glad we went and look forward to more festivals this summer... I LOVE going to the Street Performer's Festival, so can't wait for that!

- Group Camping Weekend! Again, to follow tradition, my entire family went with the entire Schram family for our annual camping weekend. It is so special that we still all keep in contact and are close after growing up with the three great Schram girls! We are all so close in age and now have kids very close in age too! Between the six of us girls, we have 10 children... with 9 of them being 3 years of age and younger!! Whew! It was busy! We had a group site at Wabamun Provincial Park and had 10 RV's there. It was such a wonderful weekend... great weather, great company, great fun for the kids (without having to worry about anyone being on the road!), great food, and of course, great drinks!! :) Mental note... take more shooters next year!!

- We are driving to Grande Prairie on Saturday morning for an overnight visit with Gerry's family. I'm looking forward to seeing Gerry's family (the last time we saw them was at New Year's). We're hoping to see Gerry's Grandma and Grandpa as well, celebrate Kourtney and Dylan's birthdays, and take in one of Dylan's baseball games! Colby's pretty excited to go and stay at Grandma's... he has his Thomas suitcase packed already!

Update on our babies...

- I really shouldn't call them both "our babies" anymore... but it's a habit I need to work on. (Yes, I still often call Colby my baby boy!) Colby is busier than ever these days! He's loving that our fence is finally finished and playing outside with friends, Jenna and Mom. Colby's last day of "I'm Big Enough for Preschool" was last week. I think he is sure going to miss his teachers! They had a little party and had a cookie to decorate with icing and sprinkles. He helped himself to just the icing though, so needless to say, he was a bit "wired" for the rest of the day!! He was getting out of his naps for a while, but now he's been falling asleep almost instantly at nap time. While the two hour nap is welcomed by Mom, a difficult bed time is not! It is taking longer and longer for him to fall asleep, going to sleep pretty late, and then getting up earlier! Hopefully we can figure it out soon and move out of this difficult transition time... He's getting to the "Why?" stage! Everything has a "Why, Mom?" attached to it! He's enjoying playing with Jenna more now that she's moving, but occasionally gets annoyed that she likes to follow him around. I love it when he gets her going with laughter! It's so cute! He does love his baby sister and worries when she's upset. He will often go up to her and say, "What's wrong, Jenna?" or "Why is Jenna crying?" Usually a kiss and/or hug foll0ws to help make her happy again. Awe! Maybe they'll still be best buds in 10 years?!? ;)

Colby excited with his new "deca-ations" in his room...Mud? What mud?! Before outdoor shower after driving dump trucks through the mud while camping...

- Jenna is our happy little baby girl. She is usually quite happy except when dinner and bath/bed time is nearing. Later on in the afternoon, she often wants to be held and isn't happy being on the ground playing. While I enjoy our snuggles, it's often difficult to make dinner and everything at this time of the day! As I mentioned, she is a girl on the move! She's been "creeping" around for quite a while now, but officially began crawling last Sunday in the trailer. Still this week, she'll crawl for a little bit, then plop down to her tummy and continue. I think she knows she's faster with her creeping still! :) She is now pulling herself up on things, which has caused us to do some major baby-proofing again. She pulls up to laundry baskets, toy boxes, even the TV stand. Since she has always loved to stand since being a newborn, I think she might be "cruising" in no time. She loves to watch... everything! Especially Colby! She tries to follow him around the house, particularly when he's racing cars on the floor. She laughs when he does and grabs at everything, including his arms, hair, feet, everything! Another little quirk... she kind of has a shoe fetish! Yes, at the age of 9 months, she is obsessed with shoes and has been for a while. Those close to me blame it on me!! :) Wherever we are, she'll find shoes and chew on them! This annoys Colby when she's chewing on his slippers... while they're on his feet!! LOL! As I said, she's nearly 9 months old (early next week) and is doing really well. She is sleeping much better lately and not waking up in the very early morning hours anymore. Thank goodness!! She eats quite a bit, so I'm curious to know how much she weighs now. I will take her in next week to check it out!
Daddy and his girl... (yes, she is most always chewing on something!!)...

I'm taking in every moment of being at home in my last few months of maternity leave. Then it's back to the real world of a full-time working mom. I'm a bit nervous about teaching full-time with two small children now, but I know it will all work out... with balance. That's key, I think!

Have a great weekend, everyone! Enjoy the beautiful weather on the way again!

xoxo
Lesley