2015: A year in review

While I type this I am sitting in my dirty kitchen while James does sit ups and the kids are exercising their 60 minutes of daily xbox time over the holidays.  Yes, the boys got an xbox for Christmas.  My house may be messy, and I may have a long list of things I want to do before we celebrate the end of 2015 this evening, but we are also blessed.  Blessed to be healthy, blessed to have a family that loves us, blessed to have friends that are like family, blessed to feel happy.

The years go by faster and faster every year.  This year went by so fast that I barely remembered what we did.  Looking back at the photos I realized that we did a lot of travelling this year.  A lot.  No wonder it went by so quickly, this has been one of our busiest years to date!   Check out what we did....

JANUARY

Cooper started his first hockey program and we became a family of 2 hockey players.  He was so excited to play like his big brother.  He was one of the little guys out there at barely 4 but could hold his own on skates.

FEBRUARY

James and I went to Vancouver to celebrate one of James' friends wedding.  We left the kids at home with Grandpa and Grandma and Aunty Kolby where Grady had his first hockey tournament ever.

MARCH

We spent spring break in Maui with Nana.  It is my happier place. Even happier than the mall.

APRIL

We started our spring soccer season.  James coached both kids and the weather was terrible.  We've come to expect cold weather with spring soccer in Calgary.

MAY

We headed to Banff for the first time with the kids.  Again, it was a chilly and wet weekend where we spent a lot of time in the hot tub, but we did take a ride on the Gondola.

JUNE

We celebrated Grady's 7th birthday with a Pokemon party.  We survived a party with 13 boys playing floor hockey!

JULY

Aunty Blaire got married!  What a fun weekend it was!

AUGUST

We headed west and spent the week in Kelowna.  It is the closest thing to Maui found right here in Canada, and we can drive there!

SEPTEMBER

James and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in San Francisco while Grandma took care of the hectic back to school and hockey try out schedule.  Poor Grandma.

OCTOBER

We travelled to Saskatoon to celebrate Grandma's 60th birthday with a 4cats splatter party.  

NOVEMBER

We celebrated Cooper's 5th birthday with a Star Wars party at Joso's with a bunch of boys and only 1 girl.  It was by far the easiest party I've ever hosted as the kids played non stop and we had access to the play center the whole time.

DECEMBER

We attended many holiday parties one of my favorites being Cooper's Christmas concert at preschool where all the kids were dressed as angels.  My little angel is a ham :)

Looking back at the year makes me tired.  My hopes for 2016 would be to travel a little less and enjoy our city a little more.  My hope is that we finish the year as healthy as we are today.  That the kids are successful in their studies and in their activities.  That James and I continue to make our health a priority and continue our weekly spin dates.  My hope is that 2016 is an even better year than 2015, and that will be hard to beat.

Farewell 2015, Welcome 2016.

Christmas Highlights 2016

We arrived on December 23rd and my Mom was at the airport to pick us up.  We have an hour and a half from the airport to my home town and the view was breathtaking.  The hoar frost is so beautiful and lasted for several days.  Back home, we only get it for a few days at most a season and with the lack of snow this season, the frosty trees more than made up for it.

My favorite thing about the holidays is spending time with family.  We alternate Christmases, one year we stay home and celebrate with James' side of the family and the other year we travel to spend the holidays with my family.  My brother has 4 kids and love getting to know them all better and see he cousins interact. This year, I especially loved how I've grown on Taiya.  She was my little bestie.

Left to right:  Taiya, Kiptyn, Tessa, Madi.

I also love the time I got to spend with my sisters.  I don't get to see them nearly enough.  I love watching them love on my kids.  

Like every other year, the kids loved the hot tub.  This winter was super cold but it didnt' stop the kids from getting in (and out!) of the hot tub many many times.  

We did a lot of tobogganing.  Three times over 5 days to be precised.  The last day we went was only Grandma, the kids and I and it was by far the coldest.  My eyelashes froze.

Taiya and Tessa had never been sledding and they loved it, getting braver by the second.   The hill is right across the street from my moms house so easy access meant many trips!

Santa visited as he does every year.   The boys hopped right over and popped beside Santa to collect his presents.  James' younger kids were more reserved.  Kippy cried and then all gathered around their mom to protect them. Somehow, a present for me was in Santa's bag so I was the only adult that got to see Santa. Must mean I was a good girl this year.

One of my favorite things this holiday was watching Grady open his gifts.  We was so animated and loved them all.  Santa did well with him.  Cooper on the other hand cried that he didn't get any Pokemon cards (that he didn't ask for and doesn't really like).

Ice skating was a highlight for us all.  We went out to Blaire's Cabin where Grandpa Lorne had already snow blowed the ice to make us a rink.  It was super cold but we geared up 2 separate times to bear the cold for a good 'ol fashioned hockey game.  My favorite part of the day was playing one on one hockey against Kolby.  I was so sure I was going win. It was close, but in the end she scored and my tummy hurt from laughing so hard.

We tried to go carolling at GG's house. We failed miserably.  We brought James blue tooth speaker and played our song and sang loud. We waved when they came to the window and they didn't recognize us, or hear the music. They thought that it was just random people looking at the lights.  GG's lights are pretty spectacular!

One moment i would rather forget is leaving my camera on the plane.  I've never done that, but after a 30 minute wait, this bad boy was back in my hands.

This Christmas will be forever remembered as the one where we spent lots of time outside.  It was cold, but it was Christmas and that is what you do when you have 12 people and 2 dogs staying in one house, you get outside!  As the kids get older, Christmases are more and more fun and we are able to do so many fun things.  Kids really do make Christmas more fun.

Bring it on 2016!  This year will be a hard one to beat!

Hockey Pictures 2015

Is it possible that I have the 2 cutest hockey players around. My voice went up about 10 octaves when I saw Coopers photo.  Could his smile be any bigger?

As for Grady, James fought with him to spike his hair and he did not want to.  I'm glad he agreed in the end because this picture just melts my heart!

Merry Christmas

From our family to your...

I wish each and everyone of you a Merry Christmas and very happy and healthy 2016.

Celebrating Christmas Eve

First posted on The Blended Blog.

One of my favorite traditions while growing up was our Christmas Eve celebration.  It always started with the children's mass at church, even when we did not have any children with us.  Then we would all go back to the house and Santa would visit us each and every Christmas Eve.   It was my most favorite part of the holiday season.  Each and every one of us, young and old, sat on Santa's knee, gave him a kiss, and got a gift in return.  We would take a group shot before Santa left. Next, we opened all our gifts followed by snacks and card games late into the night.   While Christmas Eve's now are different than they were, we still try to incorporate Santa's visit in my immediate family when we can.

This tradition didn't just start in my generation, Santa even came when my Mom was young.

When my Mom was young, it was her Dad, my Grandpa, that always dressed up as Santa.  This photo is of my Mom and 3 of her siblings.  When my Mom sent me the photo, the resemblance between her and I as young girls was uncanny.  She is on the far left in the photo.

When my Grandpa passed away it was a tradition that the family wanted to continue in his honor, the question was, who was going to be Santa?

You see, my Mom comes from a family of women.  My Grandma has 5 daughters and 2 sons.  Of the 2 sons, neither was home for Christmas on a regular basis.  In the end, my mom volunteered.  Thirty years later and my Mom still dresses up as Santa Claus every year we come home for the holidays.

In the early days, my mom would go downstairs with my Grandma to put on the outfit and have a shot of whiskey to tame the nerves.  For real.

Each year, every person got a photo with Santa.  This is my brother sporting a mullet and a perm.  For a boy, he had more hairstyles then I care to remember.

This is me at about 20 years old.  Notice the very high slit in my skirt in this photo. This was shortly after I lost all my weight and my clothes got a little tighter and shorter.  I sure hope Santa gave me a few fashion tips before giving me my gift!

Notice Santa's glasses in this photo.  'He' always came from outside so the younger kids could watch from the window.  It must have been particularly cold this winter as his glasses were all foggy.

Each year we also snapped a photo with the group that was celebrating Christmas with us that year.  It varied from year to year with the exception of a core group.  Santa always made us sing a Christmas carol before he left.  Usually We wish you a Merry Christmas.

Some years Santa would even dress up in crazy hats and glasses.  The look of my Grandma's face is priceless.  Maybe that was the year that Santa had his mustache over his nose instead of under.  Maybe too many shots of whiskey?

When we added new family members, they got to take part in the new tradition as well.  I think the first time a grown man has to sit on Santa's knee since childhood is somewhat priceless.  This is the first time James came home for Christmas with me and got to sit on his MILs lap and give her a kiss on the cheek....

For Grady's first Christmas, Santa made a special visit to our house.


And for Cooper's as well.  He was only 7 weeks old for his first Christmas.

This may be one of my favorite Santa photos:

Notice the look on my niece's face.  She was about 5 in this photo and was on to Santa being fake.  After Santa left she asked if Santa was a woman... priceless!

The other thing I love about having our very own Santa Claus visit is that we have not waited in line at the mall. Not even once.  While others may deem this a Christmas tradition that they can't imagine not doing, I am so happy that we have our own personal Santa visit us at home.  No lines and no crying.  Usually.

What I love about this tradition is that is was unique to our family.  None of my friends open all their presents on Christmas Eve, I have yet to meet someone that celebrates this tradition.  Other than my BFF Dee, I also don't know anyone that has a real life Santa come to their house every Christmas.  Growing up, I loved bragging to my friends about my special visit with Santa and how i got to open my presents early.  It was our family thing and I loved it.

As we have gotten older and family dynamics have changed, the tradition has changed to. Santa still comes every year, but not always on Christmas Eve, instead, we pick a time when the family is all together, sometimes earlier and sometimes later.  One thing that hasn't changed is our celebration on the Eve of Christmas.  We still open our presents at night.  It allows us all to sleep in on Christmas morning,  if you count 7:30 as a sleep in.

I love hearing about the different traditions that other families do to make their holidays unique to them.  If you have a favorite tradition unique to your family, please share it in the comments, I'd love to hear how YOU celebrate!

What I Wore Wednesday

It has been way to long since we talked fashion on the blog so let's take a look at what I've been wearing the past week or so.

Outfit #1

I loved this outfit.  What you can't see from my crappy selfie is that the pants are an oxblood damsak print.  The funny story about these pants is that my co worker bought them for herself and they were to big so she asked if I wanted them.  I took one look at the pants and told her my butt was not fitting into those pants.  She told me that they were extra stretchy and she was right!

Outfit #2

I liked this outfit more in my head then I did in real life.  It needed a shorter jacket.  But I love the polka dots and plaid together.  I am getting much better at pattern mixing.

Outfit #2

My favorite part of this outfit is the shoes.  I love me some leopard print shoes, throw in some pattern mixing and I'm sold.  I wore this out for dinner with friends on Saturday night.  Thank you to my photographer Cooper, pretty good if I do say so myself.

Outfit #4

This was a risky office outfit for me. Technically we are a 'business formal' office, as in the men wear full suits and ties every day. But.... the woman don't. Some do, but most push the boundaries.  A lot.  What you can't see clearly in the photos is that I am wearing my faux leather leggings.  In my defence, I've seen 3 other woman wearing them in the past few weeks.

Outfit #5

We called yesterday ugly sweater day at the office since it was many of ours last day before the holidays.  I love my cute ugly sweater. My best $24.99 purchase of the season.  

That's what I've been wearing this week. But let me tell you I will be in comfy clothes and cozy sweaters all of next week while I celebrate the season with my family and friends.  I hope you will be wearing the same :)

My thoughts on... Fitbits

 I got my Christmas gift a few weeks early and not to my surprise, it was a fitbit!  I've wanted one for a while so when they went on mega sale on black friday, James bought one for me for Christmas... and one for himself.  So when the box arrived, he ripped into it, so obviously I did to.  It is all James' fault.  

Before I tell you what I think, here are a few things I've learned since I started wearing my fitbit.

1.  My job is very inactive.  I have an office job, so obviously I knew I wasn't burning oodles of calories, but on a typical work day, I get less than 5,000 steps.  With a goal of 10,000 steps a day, that is a lot of steps to cram into the evening.  Another interesting fact is that I walk about 1000 steps each way to and from my car so I really only get less than 3000 at the office.  Apparently, I go to the bathroom that many times in a day. Yikes.

2.  On my day off, I can get over 10,000 steps without trying as long as I don't choose to read a book during the afternoon like I did last week! Between running errands, walking the kids to school, and grocery shopping I reach my goal pretty easily.

3. I overestimate the amount of calories that I burn.  I assumed that I burned at least 500 calories in a spin class. I am dripping in sweat and exhausted, it must burn tons of calories.  Nope, I burned just over 300. That was a disappointment.

4.  I rarely get more than 60 active minutes in a day.  Mostly due to my job.  I thought I was an active person but really I am just going to the gym and I rarely go for more than an hour a few times a week.   That reflects in my active minutes.  Ideally I'd like to get to 90 active minutes a day but for now I'll focus on at least 60 minutes.

5.  Sleeping in my fitbit stresses me out so I don't wear it at night.  When I woke up I would try not to move as I didn't want it to show that I was restless or have awake minutes. I know, its silly.

6.  Having someone to do challenges with is fun.  James and I do a daily challenge and I've kicked his butt every day but twice.  It is fun to see how much, or little, the other person is moving.  It is clear that James is as inactive at work as I am.

7.  To get your steps, all you have do is get out and go for a 30 minute walk. I went for a walk with a friend for just under 1.5 hours and I got 10,000 steps, in that walk alone.  If you sit at your desk all day and then on the couch all night, it will show.

8. This is the information that my Fitbit Charge shows:

This was mid day on a day that i went to the gym for training and did the stair master.  So it wasn't a problem getting to 10,000 steps. especially since I took the kids tobogganing that evening.  I find my self really interested in looking at the info, though I do find the number of calories I burn in a day quite depressing.

The verdict:  I love it!

I find it very motivating.  Yes, the competition helps, but really you are just competing with yourself.  I want to get the steps in and be active.  It isn't unheard of to see James walking around the house because he didn't get his steps in.  He has even started walking on the treadmill while watching TV if he hasn't hit his goal steps yet. That was unheard of before the introduction of the fitbit.

The first day that I wore my fitbit was the day after my Christmas party and I was slightly hungover.  I went from sitting in the bleachers at hockey, to sitting for 3 hours at lunch with a friend.  My steps reflected that and I felt like I needed to do something.  That particular day I did not, but that was the wine's fault!

It makes you more aware of how little you are actually doing.  Thus far, that day excluded, there is only 2 day I haven't met my goal, and I was only shy by less than 1000 steps. If I were James, I would have hopped on the treadmill, but I have to remember that there were some days I surpassed the goal by over 50%.  It is OK to be lazy somedays.

You also have to remember that it is still just a mini computer. It makes mistakes.  It misses steps in spin class, can't read my heart rate 100% of the time and doesn't' recognize all my exercise, but that is OK.  If you use it as a tool to track your movement and accept that it isn't 100% it still serves its purpose.

If you do decide to buy one, I highly recommend doing it with someone else so you can discuss your stats.  It is super social and a little healthy competition never hurt anyone!

Happy stepping!

five on friday

{one}  Cooper has made it 2 nights with no diaper! Then he had an accident.  I felt so bad for the poor lad.  We had been celebrating his success for 2 days and he was deflated.  He was mad and kicking around and didn't want to tell anyone.   He is so close.  Back to diapers for the time being.

{two} Cooper had his Christmas concert at school this week.  All the kids were dressed as angels and absolutely adorable.  My favorite song was when they sang We Fish you a Hairy Christmoose and a Hippo New Year.  Priceless.

{three} Can you believe today is the last day of school before the holidays?  I certainly can't. I'm all ready, the presents are wrapped, the house is decorated... why don't I feel festive?

{four}  We are preparing for a weekend full of early morning hockey. Saturday brings us 6:45am practice and Sunday brings us a 7am game.  Cooper is in a tournament this weekend and I can't wait to see his team kick some butt!  After this weekend we have a 2 week hockey break. Yippee!

{five}  I'm on a reading role!  I just finished Perfect Match by Jody Picoult and love it!  Similar to her other books, there are many twists that keep my up way to late reading. The funny thing is that I ran into Stacey in the library and she was taking the book out and said that there was another copy so we ended up reading it at the same time.  We can't talk about it though since neither of us know where the other is!  Next up is Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand and Merry Christmas by James Patterson, both Christmas books.  Let's see if I can read 2 books over the holidays this year!

Happy Friday!

Grady's thoughts on.... being cool

Setting the scene: It is bed time and I go in to Grady's room to say goodnight.

Grady:  Mom, will you snuggle with me?

For the record, he is a great snuggler. 

Me:  Of course.

I crawl into bed with him and give him a giant hug.

Me:  I hope you always want to snuggle with me.

Grady:  Why wouldn't I want to snuggle with you anymore.

Me: Someday you won't think I'm cool anymore.

Pause.

Grady (with a very serious voice):  I don't think you are cool now.

Me:  What?!?!  If you don't think I am cool, what do you think makes someone cool?

Grady:  Someone who plays lots of sports.

Me:  I used to play sports. I like to shop - it is kind of a sport.

Grady:  Shopping is not a sport.

Me (raising my voice to be heard in Cooper's room):  Cooper, do you think I am cool.

Cooper:  No.

Me:  What makes a person cool?

Cooper:  Someone who has lots of toys.

Silence.

Me thinking to myself... here I was worried about the day the kids didn't think I was cool anymore and it has already happened.  I guess I should just be happy they still want to snuggle! 

Christmas Home Tour

Today I am participating in The Blended Blog's Christmas home tour where you get to take a glimpse into others home and see how they decorate for the holidays.  Lets start outside.

As you turn on to our street you immediately see our house as it sits on the corner.

James was very into decorating the outside of the house this year.  He went onto Home Depot and ordered a bunch of extra lights including the disco ball that you can see shining on the left portion of the house.  I had never seen them before he bought it, but now I see them everywhere!

The blow-up, however, is not new.

We used to have a blow up Santa and after a few years Santa looked liked he was always doing a downward dog.  He stopped standing upright. Probably has something to do with all the heavy snow that has fallen over the years the the weakening of the ropes. Whatever the reason, it was time for some new holiday décor for outside.  We let the kids choose and they of course chose the one with hockey, the snow man is carrying a hockey stick and the moose is holding skates.    I am sure we have the most Canadian blow up possible featuring hockey, a moose, and a Mountie, all in one.  Whatever, the kids love it!

Come, let's go inside.

I looked high and low for a wreath I loved a few years ago an fell in love with this one that is a prefect mix of cones, greens and berries.  The bow needs some work.  I almost feel like I could update my wreath again.  There are such unique and crafty ones out there that I would just love to buy.  Maybe one for the inside of the door?

As you walk in one of the first things you'll see is my home-made card holders with all the cards and pictures that we have received.  I did a post about how to make the card holder here.

I am so not a crafty person but I really like my card holder.  I made a new one this year as I decided my old one was too small. I added an extra ribbon to hang the cards from and also made the card board part bigger since by the end of December it is filled with cards to!  Receiving Christmas cards is one of my favorite parts of December!

My absolute favorite part of Christmas decorating is our tree. I love having a lit up Christmas tree in the house at night while keeping the lights low, watching a movie (preferably Love Actually), and sipping on hot chocolate and Baileys.

Directly in front of our tree is our fireplace where you'll find our stockings.  I bought matching knit stockings the year after Cooper was born, from Superstore of all places.  My only complaint is that they don't lie flat. I think I may have to cut some cardboard pieces to slide them in to hold them in place.

You'll notice the 6 candles on the mantle, those are new this year from Costco. Both my brother and Mom bought them and loved them, so purely by recommendation, when I saw them at Costco, I grabbed a box as well.

What I love about them is that they come with a remote and you can set them to come on every evening at a certain time and they shut off 5 hours later.  I love that feature. I wish my tree had a timer....

We also have a Christmas village that sits along our ledge in the entry way.  I've had it for years (also from Costco) but what surprises me is how much the kids love it.  In years past, the kids have spent lots of time looking at all the house and playing with (and breaking) the little men that came with it.

This is far from all our decorations as we have little pieces of Christmas scattered around the house, but these are my favorites.  I'm in the process of trying to swap out our tacky decorations we've had for years for my adult, classic, décor.  Unfortunately, decor is not my strong suit so it may take a while....

Now that you've toured our home, hop on over to Katie's blog and see how her house is decorated for the holidays!