2016: A year in review

Happy New Years Eve!!  Is that a thing?  Well it certainly is here.  I love NYE.  While I am not a party girl anymore, I love the opportunity to spend time with our friends, eat great food and consume a few adult beverages.  When I put together our annual review I am reminded of how lucky we are.  We are healthy, we traveled, we played sports, and most importantly we are surrounded by friends and family. 2016 was a good year for us, here's to hoping that 2017 won't disappoint.

JANUARY

The kids enjoyed our first outdoor rink that James spent the day on Jan 1 spontaneously building.  Unfortunately we had such a warm winter that the rink was only operational for about 6 weeks and then mice started living under the tarp.  Yuck.

FEBRUARY

We traveled to Whitefish Montana for our first ever out of town hockey trip.  I learned that it is more about fun then it is about hockey. And boy, was it fun!

MARCH

We spent 2 sun filled weeks in Maui.  The kids swan like fish and I started my Parenthood addiction.

APRIL

Spring soccer started for both kids. As you can tell from the attire of the other boy, it was cold. Let's just say I got lots of use out of my rain jacket.

MAY

My mom and I ran a 10k in Canmore.  It was my first and unleashed a running beast in me.  I ran a second 10k a few months later and am now registered for my first half marathon.

JUNE

We celebrated Grady's 8th birthday with 16 boys and a gaming truck where the kids played xbox for 2 hours straight and then put their faces in the cake.  Boys will be boys!

JULY

My family threw me a 37th surprise birthday pool party. I felt so spoiled and very surprised, which is very hard to do.

AUGUST

We spent our 5th annual summer vacation in Kelowna.   We were lucky to have some friends join us this year which made both the kids and parents happy!

SEPTEMBER

The boys went back to school with Grady starting grade 3 and Cooper starting kindergarten.  It was nice to get back into routine.

OCTOBER

My Dad, Sheila and Aunty Kolby came to visit for Thanksgiving and it snowed. Like, really snowed.  When life throws you snow, you go tobogganing!

NOVEMBER

We celebrated Cooper's 6th birthday with a gym party at the local rec center.  The theme was Pokemon!

DECEMBER

My mom was here for over a week in December helping us out while Jasmin was in the Philippines.  While she was here she got to see many many hockey games and get a glimpse of our busy day to day life.  Thank you Mom!

I hope that 2016 was full of memories and laughter for you and your family.  Wishing you a year of health and happiness in 2017.

Happy New Year!

Christmas 2016

This year was our year to spend Christmas in Calgary as we alternate every year.  Each year brings its own set of traditions, some new and some old.  We've been celebrating Christmas Eve at our house for several years now and this photo was taken after the kids got to open one Christmas present, their PJs.

You see, my kids sleep in their underwear and I think every kid needs at least one pair of PJs that fit and the receive that pair on Christmas Eve.  Sadly, they have not remembered that from year to year and they were excited to potentially open the Nintendo DS machines that they had asked for over and over.....  I finally told them it wasn't a toy and they shouldn't get too excited.  The hockey PJS were more of a hit then I expected and they wore them for over 24 hours straight!

I am very bad for remembering to take a family photo during Christmas.  I love that this one is is front of our tree.  Everyone had changed out of their regular clothes except me.  Whatevs, we are all smiling and looking at the camera!

The first year we after Grady was born we all slept at Nana's house.  Grady got up before 6am and I spent the next 3 hours trying to keep him quiet while the others slept.  Now, we sleep at our own house and arrived at Nana's in our PJs at 9am.  There are always presents from my parents under the tree that we let the kids open first thing while Santa brings the presents to Nana's.  Santa is smart and knows we like to open them there....

Obviously a Chicago Blackhawks fan....

This Pittsburgh fan was excited about his DC super friends newest toy. The kid will have the whole set soon!

After what seemed like hours of waiting to the kids, we headed to Nana's where we open stockings first.  This year we tried something new where each adult buys a $30 gift for every other adult so it wasn't so much work for my MIL.  I thought it worked well.

After stocking we have breakfast, always eggs benedict.  I prefer the land of nod cinnamon buns but everyone else goes crazy for eggs benny!

Finally the kids opened their coveted Nintendo DSs.  This was probably the most excited I've seen them get over a present.  Thank you black Friday for the deal so good we bought 2!

This is by far my favorite photo of Christmas.  This kid is so expressive. What a ham!

And another great shop....  I don't think he is excited at all....

After presents, we lost the kids to their new Nintendo DSs for a few hours.  Turned into a pretty quiet afternoon....

.... until we bought out Bean Boozled!

If you have kids (or even if you don't!), you need to play this game.  You flick the spinner and you get a color that will either be a good flavor or a bad flavor.  For example, white could be coconut or spoiled milk or orange could be peach or barf.  Here is cooper spitting out barf into the spit bowl.  

I can tell you from experience that spoiled milk is also spit worthy. Some of them taste bad and others are so disgusting you can't bear to swallow it...

We also went skating on Christmas day and when you go to the neighborhood rink you run into many classmates.  We even ran into Grady's coach and they all got a scrimmage going.  They got Uncle Joel's Linz jersey for Christmas and they were the best dressed out there.... European jerseys and pajama pants!

We went back to Nana's and warmed up on hot chocolate before we devoured our yummy turkey dinner.....

It really was a great day spent with family, games, skating and food.  The kids got what they wanted for Christmas and so did I (running gear!).  We spent time with friends in the mountains before Christmas and family time for Christmas.  We've spent the past week doing things that we never have time to do with our hectic schedule.... watched movies, swam, skated (of course!), had dinner with friends.  All in all this is just what I need to rest up before January hits and my busiest month of the year begins.  Oy, time to start dreaming about spring break!

Panorama Ski Trip

The week before Christmas we found ourselves with no childcare and 2 kids out of school, so James and I took the week off.  I looked into going somewhere warmer but the idea of going away and getting back on Christmas Eve just didn't appeal to me.  So.... we booked our first ski trip.

Let me tell you a little about my skiing history.  I grew up in Saskatchewan, a very flat province, where the closest thing to skiing was a man made hill called Table Mountain.  Every year we would go with school for one day.  That is it.  When I moved here, the company I worked for had an annual ski trip and decided that if I was going to live one hour from the mountains I was going to learn to ski.  My goal was to ski once a year.  I lasted about 3 years and every year I ended up on a blue run that someone told me was easy and I would end up in tears on the hill.  I stopped skiing and never looked back.

This past year my current company went on a ski trip.  When given the choice between staying in the office to work or going to the ski hill, I obviously chose skiing.  I signed up for lessons and realized that skiing was like riding a bike, you don't really forget.  I vowed to stick to green runs only and my confidence in skiing was renewed.

I have the same mentality for my kids. They are growing up practically in the mountains and they will not be scared of skiing like I was.  My goal is to get the kids on skis once a year.  You see, having 2 kids in hockey doesn't allow a lot of time for weekend get aways through the winter.  The past 2 years we have put them in ski lessons in the city over Christmas break.  This ski trip would be their first to the mountains.

Since everyone was a little nervous about skiing, myself included, we decided to invite a few friends and make a trip out of it!  Before we knew it, there were 13 of us headed to Panorama to ski and let's face it, drink wine and hot tub!

We put the kids in private lessons both mornings which worked out perfectly.  The kids learned to ski with the instructors and the adults got to do a few kid free runs.  I was a little disappointed when we picked the kids up on the first day and the instructor didn't take Grady on the chair lift because he didn't want to.  Ummmm, that is why we put him in lessons.

Both Grady's friends were eager to get on the chair lift right after lunch and in 100% Grady fashion, he was 'a little nervous'.  So... all the kids, except Grady and I headed up the mountain.  We talked about it and as he saw all the kids come down the hill he started saying he wanted to go up.  When he finally agrees, you get him in line as quick as you can before he changes his mind!

Once at the top, he got scared, like, really scared.  He was crying and saying he didn't want to go down.  It reminded me so much of the times that I got teary and thought I couldn't get down the hill. The fear is real.  I am certainly not a good enough skier to help him so James managed to get back up the hill from where he was with Cooper and started yelling talking to him.  Cooper had to pee so him and I had to go down the hill. I turned back half way down to see that Grady and James were slowly making their way down the hill.

Crisis averted.

After the first steep part, he was fine and able to catch up with the rest of us.  In all honesty, the greens at panorama were harder then I remember them at Sunshine.   He insisted that he did NOT want to go up the chair lift again but that he would the next day.  At this point I was doubtful.

The next morning when we dropped the kids off at lessons I told Grady's instructor that he had done the chair the day before, was very nervous about it, but that he just needed a little push.  Sure enough, he went down 3 times with the instructor and seemed to have the hang of it.

My absolute favorite part of the entire trip was Day 2 in the afternoon.  Grady was confident on his skis and with riding the chair lift and we were able to go 6 runs straight with out stopping.  It was so great to see him overcome his fear and enjoy it.  That is what the whole goal was after all.

It was so interesting to see how different our kids were on the ski hill.  We always knew that Grady was more timid the Cooper, but to see the difference in action was pretty amazing.  Cooper just went.  His instructor said he was a confident skier and that he was doing great.  Cooper loved speed and wasn't' scared to fall and get up and try again.  He kept up to the big kids no problem. It shouldn't surprise me since he is always keeping up to the big kids in everything they do.

I was equally proud of Grady for overcoming his fear. I have been in his shoes and it is not easy to face your fear head on.  With a little lot of convincing that kid went from terrified to racing down with the other kids.

This was a great experience for our family.  A winter vacation in the snow is not something that I booked and got excited about, but now that we've done it once I foresee many more ski trips on our future.  As long as there is lots of wine and Baileys!

A successful (and tiring!) first ski trip if I do say so myself.

Merry Christmas!

five on friday

{one}  The kids are done school today.  It seems early.  It is more than a week until Christmas, how are we going to keep the kids minds off Santa for 8 whole days?  Today is also my last day of work until 2017!

{two}  We have no child care for 5 weeks and the grandparents have been great at picking up the slack while Jasmin is away.  However, with no school next week and it being the week before Christmas, we decided to take the week off and go on our first ever family ski trip.  Yikes.  I think that it  is important for our kids to know how to ski since we live so close the mountains.  With that being said, neither of them is looking forward to it.  To make it more fun, we invited 2 other families to join us.   They get to ski with their friends and I get to drink baileys in the hot tub with mine.  Win-win, right?

{three}  I am still struggling with getting in the Christmas spirit this year.  I'm going through all the motions of decorating and wrapping presents.  I am even listening to Christmas music right now....  not sure what it is about this year that has every thing feeling more like work than fun.

{four}  I took on too much this year.  I said it last year to and swore that I wouldn't do it again this year, and alas, I did.  Being room parent and hosting 2 tournaments in December has proved to be overwhelming and lots of extra work in an already busy month.   I made James promise me that he will not let me sign up to be room parent again next year.  It always feels like the right thing to do and at this time of year I start to regret it.....

{five}  I will be on a blogging break next week while enjoy the mountain air and hopefully a few ski runs.  I may or may not be back blogging before Christmas. I am giving myself time to recoup from a busy month and enjoy time with my family and I hope you find some time to do the same.

Cozy for the Holidays: Kylie Lip Kits

Today, as a part of our TBB link up, a few of us lipstick lovers are talking Kylie Lip Kits.  If you are hopping over from Sarah's blog, welcome!  Nothing feels more cozy than great lipstick and a warm sweater.  Yes... let's go with that....

I am the first to admit that I am not a makeup gal, I do my best, but I don't have the patience to perfect the smoky eye or get the precise cat eye.  What I do love is lipstick.

My friend Gina introduced me to Kylie Cosmetics about a year ago.  A random email asking if I was interested in ordering a lip kit led to a year long obsession.  Before this, I was strictly a Nars girl so I figured it wouldn't hurt to try something different. Besides, they were selling out like crazy so they must be decent, right?

They are more than decent. They are the most long lasting, great feeling lipstick I've ever worn. Some may argue that they are drying, but I like that they aren't sticky.  They feel like I am not wearing anything. They don't stick to my teeth, my cup, or little bitty cheeks.

Let's quickly talk about the kit.  You can buy singles, but I prefer to buy the kit in its entirety which includes a lipstick and a liner.  Before the kits I never wore a liner but since these lipsticks go on liquid, it helps it stay in place.  I personally think it helps with the staying power as well.  I line and fill the entire lip.

While some people won't leave the house without their mascara, I don't leave my house without lipstick.  Ever.

So when Gina and I did our first order I decided to order 2.  It was flat rate shipping so in my accountant brain it was a better deal to order 2 than only 1.  I went for a pink and a brown.

Enter Candy K and Dolce K.

Left to Right: Dolce K and Candy K

I think these were a great 2 colors to start with.  The one on the left is a touch darker and much more brown then the one on the right that is more neutral pink with a brown undertone.   I wore them non stop so I had next to no guilt when I ordered my next two.

Next up I ordered Exposed and Heir (Metal).

Personally I don't like Exposed on its own. It is too close to my lip color.  I happened to order Heir which is kind of like a sparkly thick gloss, or that is the best way I can think to explain it.  It adds just enough sparkle to contrast my lip color and it has quickly become my go to neutral for the early mornings at the rink. Yes, I ever wear lipstick to the hockey rink.

Next up we have Kristen. It is a dark shade of pink and apparently their best selling color.  On this particular day I decided to show you the staying power of the lip kit.

The top photo is first thing in the morning, the second is after breakfast and a workout, and the third is when I was leaving work 10 hours later.  

Meet Gina, the one that started the obsession.  Here we both are wearing the perfect pink, Posie.

Same color, but looks different on us both.  I must admit that this is one of the challenges of ordering lipstick online, you don't get a chance to actually see the color in real life.  It looks different on each person.  Which can be a good thing for your friends if they look good in a color you don't!  Right Gina?

This is love bite, aka my Vampire lipstick.  

I wore this color for family photos and when I came down ready to go Grady asked me why I was wearing vampire lipstick. Ha! I think because it is a deep purple.  It is the one I feel the most self conscious in but I still wear it to work, so it can't be that bad.  HA!

This is not a sponsored post, I just genuinely love all TEN of my colors.  I chose not to show them all today because in taking the pictures I realized that I take a terrible selfie and that the pictures don't really do the lipstick justice.  The best way to see if you like Kylie's lip kit is to buy one and try it. I can almost guarantee that you won't be disappointed!

Now that I am done my infomercial, head on over to Dee's blog where I am certain she will be telling you how much she loves hers and showing you how some of these colors look on her. 

The Weekend we Hosted 2 Tournaments

I have been dreading this weekend every since the day we found out that both kids would be playing in separate tournament the same weekend. Not only did they have 7 games between the 2 of them but I also had many hours of volunteer time to put in since our teams were hosting both tournaments and being treasurer comes with its own set of extra duties....  We worked together, got both kids to all but one of their games and celebrated the successes of our kids.  Even if they didn't always win.

I sported my Hockey Mom tuque proudly all weekend, first because it was totally relevant with the number of hours I was at the rink, and second because it was freakin' cold outside all darn weekend!

Let's start with Grady.

Can I just say I love watching Grady play? When Gray asks me what my favorite team is I tell him Trails West Novice 2 and he doesn't believe me.  No Mom, a real team.    For me, I would rather watch a team of passionate 7 and 8 year olds, including my own, then watch an NHL game.  I never imagined that I would be such a 'hockey mom' but I am in the crowd jumping out of my chair and ringing my bell in full force.

This season we have been on a winning team.  Until this tournament, we had only lost 1 game.  In our league we are doing very well. What I've learned is that when you aren't challenged by the other team you don't always play your best.  Grady's team lost their first game on Saturday morning by not playing their hardest in the first 2 periods only to start playing in the third to close the 4 goal spread to a final score of 5-4.  We actually missed this game, but that is beside the point.  These kids came out playing to win in their second game on Saturday. They played their hearts out.  In the end they lost, but it was one of the best games I've watched them play to date.

Grady walked away with the hard hat for best hustle.  I was so proud of him as he really deserved the award.  He was on defense, and while that isn't his favorite position he gave it his all.

Moving on to Cooper....

Cooper's tournament was a little more intense then on the volunteer side.  It was an 18 team tournament hosted by the 6 Sr Timbit teams in our association.  I tried to not get involved too much in this one since I had zero tournament experience, but when the tournament treasurer quit, I put my hand up to take over the duties. 

Cooper played 3 games and I only actually got to watch 1. You see, Cooper's tournament had a silent action of 48 teams and when those bid sheets got ripped off the table at 2pm sharp my job really started.   We started calling all of the 48 winners and telling them they had to be at the rink by 8pm to pick up their items with cash of cheque in hand.  As the payments arrived we were busy reconciling cash and cheques and managing the inventory.  At the end of the day only 2 items were left behind.  We are still deciding how to handle that.  This tournament was a big job that was a huge success because of hours and hours put in by the parents.  The things we do for our kids.....

As a fun little game at the front desk for $0.25 you could guess how many chocolates were in the bin.  Grandma used her math skills to come up with a calculated guess of 233.  Grady guessed 237.  Hours later I got a text from a mom on our team that Grady had given her son the CORRECT number of chocolates and her son also put that number.  You see both of us knew the correct number as it was texted to us by another volunteer.  She was sure that the boys cheated.  I am sure that he based his gues on Grandma's guess.  I convinced her to give them the chocolate and we had 2 happy boys!

To say I was exhausted yesterday at spending all day at the rink would be an understatement. To top it off, I had to work on Monday, and I slept in by accident....  I'm glad I did it but I'm also glad its done.  The hockey community has been good to me, I've worked hard, but I've been rewarded with getting to know a lot of good kids and made a lot of friends.  

I wish I could say that now we can relax, but we are back at it with 6 ice times this weekend.  

Go wolves!

Cozy for the Holidays: 1 shirt, 3 styles

A few months ago my BFF Deena showed up on my doorstep with a new shirt that she purchased for herself, Abbie, and I.  This week, for TBBs first Cozy for the Holidays link up, the 3 of us are styling this graphic tee three different ways.

She knows me too well....  Perfect shirt for a weekend as wine always come first!

I decided to stick to the cozy theme and pair it with this grandpa sweater James bought me for Christmas last year.

Technically, he bought me a different one that was a touch too big and I exchanged for this warm, cream, cozy piece of heaven.  That particular day was so mild that I used it as my outer layer.  Let's just say that the weather is not so mild now and we are stuck in the dead of winter.  On the positive side, it is helping me feel more festive now that we have some white stuff on the ground.  I digress....

I love pairing a graphic tee or any tee for that matter with a fancy necklace.  What can I say, I am an accessory gal.  This old Stella and Dot was the perfect match.

I feel cozy just looking at my sweater.  My biggest complaint is that I am sometimes too hot in it.  That isn't a bad problem to have when the temperature outside is -30 with the wind chill.

Since I was wearing this out and about on a Monday, I paired the outfit with the Exposed Kylie lip kit topped with the Heir metal.  It is the perfect nude for me.  Speaking of lipstick, there may be an entire post dedicated to my fave lipstick next week.  Stay tuned....

Ironically enough, I ran into my mother in law at the liquor store while wearing this outfit.  I was perfectly dressed for my outing one may say.  Except I was buying a big bottle of Baileys, my drink of choice during December.  Nothing is more cozy than a warm sweater and Baileys on a cold day. Nothing.

Now that I've shown you how I wore this shirt, check out how Deena and Abbie styled theirs.

An InLinkz Link-up