Pre-Christmas

We have had a great time doing Christmas things. First up was a Christmas party - the entire family was showered, dressed, and made pretty. We piled in the car and drove to our friends house to find that the party was the NEXT day. I blame sleep deprivation on me mixing this one up. :)  So instead of a Christmas party we had a nice family meal at Montanas (great place for kids) and went to the zoo lights.  Not a bad night after all and hey, we all looked great. 

The next day we met a gaggle of our wonderful friends at Heritage Park. It was an absolutely fabulous day out in the snow.

Here are J and N investigating a real reindeer.

A picture of our family with our friends Cat, Aaron and their girls (a wee one hiding under the blue blanket).

Tired chickens.

Maxed out

The most we have had for a sit down meal. Thanks to Nan for the wonderful cooking and to everyone for bringing a little something.  12 adults, 7 kids, 1 infant. The kids ages were: 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. How fun is that? 

(missing N in this photo for some reason)

Also, I bought some stockings this year. Although I love all of the hand-me-down Christmas items, I figured it was time to start building some of our own family decorations. I ordered these online through Sears and in an oddly placed "extra comments" box I asked for our names to be embroidered. I thought for sure they were going to misspell something or just not embroider them at all. I was totally surprised by the size of the stockings (much bigger than I anticipated) as well as the fact that they perfectly embroidered every one.   N has had a great time playing with them. :)

Lots of pyjama days

From about mid October we (mainly me) have been hammered by colds, flus, stomach bugs, pink eye, back spasms (definitely me), etc. Every time I think we have just made it out the other side to healthy - voila - another virus. Fantastic. There have been a lot of pyjama days around our house. 

A common occurrence around our house is a tea party. These are fun if the MD (mini dictator) doesn't make up 6 million different rules. The one below was the first with all of the ladies of the house. F was busy trying to kick the table cloth, and N decided that she really didn't want most of her clothing. Definitely a party!

Oct-FUN-tober

We had a spectacular fall. The girls and I spent as much time as we could outside enjoying the beautiful weather. 

A highlight for N was a trip to the corn maze. She has been begging to get her face painted and was THRILLED to see a booth set up at the maze. She wanted to get princess face paint so the lady drew the crown and some extravagant makeup. Unfortunately this picture does not show the glitter that was also applied. Needless to say N was pumped and was so proud of her face paint the entire day. 

Thanks to Opa for joining us and taking such great pictures. 

Pictures of us spending time at home. F loves to scoot down the chair and fling her feet around.

No one really knows who she looks like...

Thankfully Daddy returned home in time to carve up some pumpkins and take N trick or treating. 

It took her a few houses to catch on and then she was really, really, really excited. Every so often she insisted on returning home to trick or treat our house. Very cute. Now I get the "can I have some candy?" question every 35 seconds or so of each and every day. :)

The cupcake (i don't know what I did to get such a terrible shadow. grrrr)

The princess butterfly. Thank goodness for the Old Navy costumes that are made for Canadian weather (Thanks T&K!). Fleece jacket and fleece pants. Excellent. Recognize the headband Mel? 

I love the expression on F's face here.

Overdue Update

Hi!

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying September. Things are just cruising along in our household. We had a wonderful visit from Grandma and Grandpa L, celebrated my mum's birthday, celebrated B's birthday, and have had some great get togethers. 

First of all I thought I would compare pictures of the girls. Many people are asking if they look alike. See for yourself. 

N

F

I love these early day sleeps.

G.L. and N had a wonderful time together. Here they are painting

Here is F watching

Now on to Lego

F takes a nap

G.L. and the kiddies had some wonderful bonding time.

The G cousins spending a great day together in Canmore

A family shot (and B's birthday!!)

 Some cute shots of F in the beloved chair.

 In fernie with the Wrig gang. That was a GREAT weekend (thank you!)

Gaga's water park

Lastly, the Hogan's just left today (sniff). Thanks for the butterfly costume guys (O is wearing a shark costume).

How cute is this kid?