December

We got a huge dump of snow at the beginning of the month. 2 snow days from school!

Emma found my eyeliner one morning and thought she would try it on.

Andrew and Samuel sang at the Gem of the west in a community concert with the children's choir.

Emma was handed down a beautiful princess dress.

Andrew and Samuel also sang at our church's concert.

 Emma digging thru the pantry and helping herself to some crackers.

Right before she hit the pantry she emptied all my laundry out of the basket. Busy girl causing trouble.

 Hoar frost one morning.

Andrew and Samuel heading to the bus stop for school.

 We picked up a tree last weekend, not much selection left but we did alright.

 All ready for Christmas.

Isaac's preschool was part of the Jenny Emery elementary school concert. He didn't sing a word but looked mighty cute up there.

 Now Luke's Kindergarten class at the school's Christmas assembly.

Andrew played some sort of xylophone. He was concentrating pretty hard.

 Daddy skating with Isaac. Shortly after he was skating without the aid. Just for his Daddy!

Emma and I just cruised around chatting with people and smiling. What a busy but wonderful December.

Girls snowshoe adventure - day 2

 Day 2 we were re-energized and rearing to go!

 We had some fun playing!

 It was so quiet and beautiful and the snow was actually falling so softly!

We had a variety of terrain on this trail, thru some pines, then we entered a darker forest with tall trees that had lots of dark moss on them, we had some beautiful views of mountains and lakes, and at our destination we emerged from the dark forest to a glacier lake with mountains on every side.

 No wildlife except this lone chickadee. We noticed it right away because we hadn't even seen any birds along the whole trail. It was happily singing!

 Some up hills. We climbed 400 meters over 5km. Not sure if that is substantial or not but we were pooped and we had quite a view so we were pretty high up.

 Here's Sharon the leader of the pack! Her and Darcie organized the whole trip!

 and cute little Darcie. I'm actually taller than her. That doesn't happen much in these parts!

 This is at the glacier lake called Rummel Lake. We had our lunch here and then headed back.

 AWESOME!!!



Girls Snowshoe Adventure- Day 1

 Darcie, me, Ang and Sharon went away for a night this past weekend and took our snowshoes along on the adventure. We have 17 kids between the 4 of us so it was a nice break from being a mom and it also gave the dad's some time to bond with the kids.

This was our accommodations. A hostel which was pretty nice and cheap.

We drove 3 hours to Canmore on Friday, unloaded our stuff and headed out in search of a snowshoe trail.

 Our first trail was called Goat Creek Trail. We weren't sure how far we made it but estimated a total of 10 km. We started at 2pm and had to be back at 5pm in order to meet the darkness setting in.

 Some of the landscape.

 We dressed in layers thankfully because we were dropping layers like crazy. The snow wasn't even deep but you still got quite a workout.

 View on the drive back to town.

 Out for drinks and dinner at "Wood". Lots of smiles and yawns happening.

 Our cozy room. Ang and I chose top bunks. What a bunch of kids.

The lounging room.

Western Night Part 2

So funny thing, the School's Promotion Committee had a Western theme dinner in November too. This was such a fun evening and we got to enjoy the meal without the work. The decor was awesome!

 

 Ken's Mom in the red hat and his Dad next to her in the denim shirt.

 Friends. Sister in law Ang in the middle.

 They made these wanted pictures of all the staff.

 Ken and Tracy had to compete in a horse riding and lasso competition.

 Ken totally hates doing this stuff but he did manage to yell out an un-enthusiastic yeehaw.

 Our handsome nephew Kevin had to use a squirt gun to blow out a lit candle.

 Our pretty niece Tara-Lee with her boyfriend Derek.

 and then there was me who volunteered to help with the auctioning and didn't even know I was volunteering. Duh! It was a lot of fun.

 Photo booth - Pete and Ang

Kevin and Chandre. Awww...