Mom's Weekend Away!

As sad as I was to leave, how guilty I felt, and how much I cried while leaving, I enjoyed a much-needed "girls weekend" two weeks ago! I went away for a weekend (Friday evening to Sunday afternoon) to a scrapbooking/crafting retreat at Rustic Ridge and Ranch. SUCH a wonderful weekend!!! Aaahhh, wonderfully delicious homecooked meals, hot tub, sauna, food and drinks, scrapbooking all weekend into the wee hours of the morning, and 8 lovely ladies to make it all GREAT! I finished 17 pages, which isn't as much as the last time I went on this retreat, but still, I'm quite happy with the progress of Jenna's album!

The kids had SO much fun at home with Daddy that weekend. Sadly, they weren't too overly excited to see me when I returned home early Sunday afternoon :( Sign of a good time with Dad nonetheless! It was very cold out, but they did venture to Ryan and Leanne's house for a playdate with their kids! I'm sure Gerry was pretty tuckered out after two busy days with the kids! Thank goodness for quiet evenings and good nights of sleep, right, Ger?!

I truly love scrapbooking and being creative, but it's so hard to do on a regular basis. Between working nearly full-time, enjoying my time with Colby and Jenna, housework, laundry, hanging out with my husband, and (hopefully) a little bit of exercise, there's no time left for crafting :( Thank goodness for monthly crop nights in our basement :) It's great to have good friends get together, bringing whatever they all want to work on, laughing, chatting, eating, and crafting for one night a month! With everyone's busy lives, it doesn't always work out that everyone can make it, but it's sure great to have a "date" with some great ladies once a month!

I think it's important to have some "me time" that Moms always seem to struggle to find. Life is all about balance and this is something I'm working on for myself. Balancing family, home life, work life, social life is very difficult. It's coming though... thank goodness for the wonderful people in my life to help keep me grounded, focused, and living my life to the fullest!! :)

xoxo
Lesley

Another First... Gotta Love Them!

One of my favourite parts of being a parent is experiencing "firsts" with our kids! Another first today for Colby was his first time on skates! Gerry took him last weekend and got him fitted for skates and a helmet. This morning, we went to the TRI and gave it a go!
He did really well standing up in his skates and was excited to get onto the ice. I was the photographer and Jenna wandered around eating her snacks :) It will take some time to get him more comfortable and having some more balance on his skates, but I'm sure that will come. Gerry of course wants him to try hockey when he's a bit older, so hopefully he'll be interested in that. If not, then he won't. No pressure, right? :) Below are a few photos from his first time out with Dad!
Good job, little buddy! Love you! (Although I think you're growing up a tad bit too fast for Mom!) xoxo

Our Top 25 of 2010

2010 has been another fabulous year... here are some highlights and our "top 25 of 2010"

25. Lesley returned to work after 1 year maternity leave and teaches Grade 3
24. Lesley completed first 10 km race - Rotary Run in September
23. Fencing our yard so the kids can play more safely... love the privacy!
22. Camping nearly every weekend in the summer... with a generator or power :) (way better than camping without!)
21. Learning to make donuts and popcorn over the fire and buying the equipment to make our own... yum!
20. Joining to Mac world with our new MacBook Pro laptop. LOVE it!

19. New vehicles - sold "White Lightning" and bought a 2003 Chevrolet 1500HD truck in April and a 2011 Volkswagon Jetta in November

18. First trip to Las Vegas in February to celebrate Gerry's 30th birthday

17. Celebrating Jenna's 1st birthday and Colby's 3rd birthday
16. Reading and fostering a love of reading in our kids

15. Cooked our first Christmas dinner... was delicious too!

14. Trip to Strathmore to visit friends

13. Almost bought a puppy... whew! Thank goodness we came to our senses!

12. Summer holidays with Daddy at home

11. Enjoying the excitement and pure joy of Christmas with family and friends

10. Continuing family traditions

9. Family movie nights on rainy camping nights

8. Building sandcastles and playing at parks

7. Kids' snuggles, hugs, and wide-open-mouth kisses

6. Being a kid everyday and playing... coloring, play doh, cars, dress-up, tobogganing, you name it!

5. Teaching Colby to ride a bike - he LOVES his bike!

4. Seeing Jenna crawl, walk, and talk for the first time

3. Watching Colby and Jenna grow into the beautiful, more-and-more independent kids they are everyday!

2. Love and time spent with family and friends

1. Capturing amazing memories in pictures!

We are so blessed to have had a wonderful 2010. Looking forward to a fantastic 2011! Wishing you a 2011 filled with joy, love, health and happiness!

Happy New Year, everyone!
Love,

Gerry, Lesley, Colby, and Jenna

A Merry Little 'Green' Christmas Letter

This year, I decided to save a few more trees and do a 'green' Christmas letter! At school, we've been using a great program to create videos from photos and text, so I thought I'd try it for this project of mine! I created an Animoto video of photos from the year 2010, which tells the story of our year with a few highlights!

Turn up the volume and Enjoy "Our 2010 in Pictures"!

Colby is 3!

I can remember December 7, 2010 as clearly today as if it were yesterday! I can't believe our little man is 3 years old already! Happy birthday, Colby!! You are an amazing little guy who brings so much laughter, love and joy to our lives everyday. Mommy and Daddy love you so much... but secretly wish we could slow down time to keep you little for longer!! Fingers crossed!!

Colby truly is a wonderful kid. I love his expressions and often wonder, "Where did that come from?" He had his 3 year check-up on Monday and is doing well, as usual. Colby is 40.5" tall (90%ile) and is 35.4 lbs (80%ile). The doctor said he's doing great developmentally, so we have no concerns! :) Colby is a great big brother and really looks out for Jenna and loves playing with her. I love hearing him say, "Jenna, come play Aquadoodle (or trains... or insert topic here) with me!" So great to hear and see them playing together!!

He absolutely LOVES Toy Story right now, so it's only natural that he chose to have a "Buzz Party". On Sunday afternoon, we had 36 family and friends at our house to celebrate Colby's birthday. It was a great afternoon/evening with playing downstairs, "Pin the Sheriff on Woody" game, pizza for supper, Buzz and Woody cake and a little man spoiled with gifts. Thank you, everyone for coming!! He is one lucky guy!

November News!

Well, winter is here! We didn't even get 'eased into' it this year either... nice temperatures one

day and then -15/-20 and snow the next!! Brrr......

We had a great Halloween this year. Colby had a lot of fun being a dragon and Jenna didn't mind her butterfly costume at all :) Seemed very fitting that she was a butterfly this year, as she was a caterpillar last year! Both kids love coloring, so we did a few pumpkin crafts for Halloween!

Sadly, sickness has hit our house... and hard too! I had a cold for about a week, which turned into a sinus infection.

Surprise, surprise! Jenna has had a cold now for about a week too, but I'm hoping it doesn't turn into yet another ear infection. Colby has been hit the hardest of us all though. Last Wednesday at the dayhome, he napped (which he never does anymor

e!). When we came home, all he wanted to do was lie on the couch and nearly fell asleep at the dinner table. By 5:30, he had a fever of 39.1 degrees, was pale as a ghost, and had bright red ears. :( Poor guy... I took him up to the Stony Hospital to get him checked out at the walk-in clinic. Turns out it was 'just a virus' that hit him hard and fast... no infection. So just need to wait it out. I stayed home on Thursday with the kids and Gerry stayed home on Friday because his fever was back on Friday morning. Poor little man... his nose is like a fountain and looks so sore! Hopefully it gets better very soon!!!

Some exciting things from November so far:

- Jenna is walking... everywhere!! She is rarely crawling anymore and seems to be enjoying exploring her world in a whole new way! :)

- Our niece, Kendra, turned 2! We enjoyed her party on the 14th at Jody and Mike's house. She sure enjoyed her Dora party and yummy cake!

- We have a new member of the Cameron Family!!! Reese Peyton Anne Cameron was born on November 19th at 11:38 pm to loving parents, Cal and Tracy Cameron, and siblings, Blake and Emerson. Congratulations!! Can't wait to meet her tomorrow!!!

- Colby can't wait for his 'Happy Birthday Party'. He LOVES Toy Story these days, so we are having a Buzz Lightyear/Toy Story Party! Should be lots of fun :) He knows when his

birthday is and is excited to have his party in two weeks!

- Gerry and I booked our trip for Spring Break... to HAWAII!!! We are very excited for a great getaway with just the two of us! We really contemplated taking the kids, but they are too young to remember and truly enjoy the experience right now. I'm sure we're going to love it, so we'll have to go back later when the kids are older and experience Hawaii again!

- I'm continuing to enjoy my 0.8 FTE at work and can see myself staying part-time for a couple more years....??? It doesn't free up a whole lot of time, but enough for me to stay on top of things and best of all, get home a bit earlier (and not go back to school in the evenings!)

Some news with the kids:

- Colby is doing great... still enjoying the dayhome and playing with other kids really well. He loves learning new things and can identify more letters and their sounds now. He loves to count everything too :) He counts in sequence to 13, but then skips to 18, 17, 19, etc. Colby is very interested in Christmas coming! We went to the (very cold!) Christmas light-up event in downtown Stony Plain this week and he enjoyed seeing the huge Christmas tree and all of the decorations being lit up. Everywhere we go, he wants to look for lights and points out houses that are lit up. He keeps bugging his dad as to when ours will get hung..... As we say every year,

should've done it before the snow came!!

- Jenna is doing really well too... I love this age and seeing her learn and explore things every day. It's a lot of fun to see her walking everywhere now. She was quite unbalanced for a few weeks, but has now taken off and has great balance. She is also able to understand and follow one or two step commands, which is neat. I will ask her to give something to Colby or put something in her toy box and she will :) She still loves saying 'Hi' and talking on anything that resembles a phone. Yes... she's very much like her mommy!

I look forward to what the next few months have in store for us. One of the best parts of the Christmas season for me is seeing the magic of Christmas through the eyes of a child. I absolutely love seeing their pure excitement and joy!

Big Changes...

I know, I know, I don't have any excuse for my weeks in between blog posts. Same old, same old... I'm a working mom who has little time to sit down except for at 11:00 pm when I'm crawling into bed after working all day, playing with kids, housework, and school work after the kids go to bed. :) Everyone does it, right?!!

Things are going really well in our house and I'm pleased that everyone is doing well... dayhome, routines with work, etc. The kids are doing really great at the dayhome and Colby has even begun napping there again. This has been huge for his behavior and has made for much pleasant evenings and bedtimes in our house! Colby loves going to Becky's house and it makes working so much easier when you know your kids love going to the babysitter's everyday. We are so thankful to have such a great dayhome provider who truly cares for our kids! He is learning so much and loves learning a new letter and sound each week, along with increasing his counting in sequence. He can sing the alphabet song and tell us the sound that some letters make. Good job, Colby!! Colby is enjoying his time at 'Sports School' on Saturday mornings, which is usually followed by some time at the great playgym at the TLC.

Jenna goes to Becky or Liam (her son) as soon as we walk in the door and her coat and shoes are off! She loves playing there and I think really has fun with Colby and the other little girl there. I absolutely LOVE this age... she is walking more and more (not all the time yet) and is very observant. She's into pointing at things... pointing at everything! I think she likes hearing the names of things around her. So cute! She waves hello and bye-bye, gives giant open-mouth kisses, and great snuggles and hugs!!! Jenna continues to love swimming lessons... she's our little fish!! Our weekly lessons on Saturday mornings are going really well and she has a lot of fun! We are doing really well with no bottles anymore. Yay, Jenna! Colby didn't have a bottle or formula after the day he turned 1, but Jenna was a bit later. She's just about 13 months and was having 1 bottle just at bedtime. But knock on wood, for the past three nights, she has gone to bed without it :) Both kids are sleeping great, so we're very lucky, especially without her last feeding right before bed.

I cherish every minute I get to be at home with the kids, especially because there aren't enough hours in a day! I have reduced my FTE at work from full-time to 0.8, so I'm done earlier every day. While I'm still staying at school and getting my planning and prep work done, I'm able to stay at home in the evenings and not go back to work! Yay!! :)

With my reduced time, I'm hoping there'll be a bit more couple time and 'me time'. Everything else always comes first, but I am working on trying to make more time for me, including working out and staying healthy. This is really important and something I believe every relationship needs. Gerry and I are trying to plan a tropical vacation for Spring Break, so we're having fun making travel plans for the end of March. Luckily, Gerry's mom offered a long time ago to come and stay with the kids. Colby and Jenna always enjoy spending time with Grandma Cameron :)

Last Sunday afternoon, we visited Gerry's Grandpa Alstad at the University Hospital. He was flown here by air ambulance with heart troubles. Thankfully, they are taking good care of him and doing tests to ensure there are no blockages, requiring surgery. They were talking about a pacemaker, so hopefully that fixes things and he'll be back to normal in no time. We had a great visit for about 2 hours with Grandpa, Grandma, and Auntie Cheryl. The kids always do really well seeing their Great Grandparents and Colby sure chatted with Grandma and Grandpa! It was nice to see them, despite the circumstances.

We are getting ready for Halloween and look forward to decorating this weekend. Now that Colby is a year older, I think he's more into it already. The kids have their costumes... now to figure out what I will be at school......

Enjoy the wonderful fall weather we've been having. I hear talk of snow, but hopefully it will stay away a bit longer!! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Love,

Gerry, Lesley, Colby and Jenna